Coronavirus Roundup: Unvaccinated Feds Who Refuse Testing Will Face Discipline; Questions on CDC’s Data for New Mask Guidance

In his remarks on Tuesday afternoon, President Biden recapped his announcement from last week about vaccine attestation for federal employees and contractors, the Veterans Affairs Department vaccine requirement for healthcare workers and his direction for the Pentagon to look into requiring the vaccine for service members. 

“The good news is that now many are following the federal government’s lead,” Biden said. “In the past several days, states and local officials have come out to impose similar vaccination mandates. And the private sector is stepping up as well.” This includes Walmart, Google, Netflix, Disney, Tyson Foods and “even Fox [News.]” As of Wednesday morning, 70.1% of U.S. adults had at least one dose of vaccine and 60.6% were fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data. Biden sought to have 70% of U.S. adults with at least one dose by the Fourth of July, but the country didn’t hit that mark until Monday. Here are some of the other recent headlines you might have missed. 

Federal employees who are not vaccinated and refuse to get regularly tested will face disciplinary action, an Office of Management and Budget official told Politico. “Disciplinary actions that can be taken for violating regulations range from formal admonishment to “removal,” according to federal statute — with agencies given leeway in determining what’s appropriate,” Politico reported on Wednesday. “But other details remain unsettled. The administration is still collecting the vaccination status of its employees and contractors, meaning it does not yet know how many have not gotten the shot.” 

The data the CDC used as the basis for its new mask guidance “has been disputed,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. “Inside the CDC, some officials disagree with the agency’s conclusion that vaccinated people who become infected may spread the virus as readily as the unvaccinated, and argue that more testing needs to be done, including tests that measure how infectious virus particles are, according to a person familiar with the matter,” said the report. “Some scientists say that the Provincetown study isn’t reliable enough to be the primary driver of a public health policy change.” 

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who oversaw “Operation Warp Speed,” wrote in The New York Times on Tuesday that the vaccines are safe and effective, in an attempt to quash any myths. He also looked back on what the Trump administration could have done better. “We could have done a better job in reminding the media and the public of all that could go wrong with vaccine development and manufacturing,” Azar wrote. “We also should have explained more clearly the operational complexities that would accompany a large scaling up of distribution.” Lastly, “we could have done more to address vaccine hesitancy.” 

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to give full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine by early next month, according to The New York Times. That would be the first vaccine in the United States to receive full authorization. 

The National Records and Archives Administration temporarily closed the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas due to the number of new coronavirus cases, the Arkansas Times reported.

President Biden will meet with Eric Lander, science advisor and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, on Wednesday afternoon to discuss preparations for future pandemics. This will be closed press, according to the White House schedule. 

Upcoming: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki will give a briefing at 12:30 p.m. 

Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.