The Biden administration will end its covid-19 vaccination mandates for federal employees, contractors and air travelers next week.
The White House said on Monday that those vaccine requirements will end on May 11, the same day the Covid public health emergency expires.
“While vaccination remains one of the most important pieces of equipment for improving worker health and protection and sales efficiency, we are now in another phase of our reaction when those measures are no longer necessary,” the White House said.
Although covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths have especially declined this year, the virus is still killing more than 1000 people a week.
The Department of Health and Human Services will also begin phasing out its vaccination mandate for gyms participating in Medicare and Medicaid, the White House said. In addition, it will end vaccination requirements for Head Start programs.
And the Department of Homeland Security will eliminate vaccination requirements for others entering the United States at its land borders with Canada and Mexico, according to the Biden administration. Citizens, national and permanent, have never been subject to such needs.
HHS and DHS will provide more important points on how to complete those vaccine requirements in the coming days, the White House said.
The Biden administration has implemented vaccination requirements for health care workers, federal employees, contractors and foreign air travelers as part of its push to develop lackluster vaccination rates and slow the spread of the virus as the delta variant surged in late 2021, followed by Omicron in the winter of 2022.
The orders have faced fierce opposition and lawsuits from critics who have denounced the needs as government overreach, while the White House has pushed for them to protect public health.