President Biden will sign executive orders requiring the vast majority of federal workers and contractors who do business with the government to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. They are part of an aggressive new plan that will also put pressure on private businesses, states and schools to enact stricter vaccination and testing policies as the Delta variant continues its spread across the US.

The mandate will apply to employees of the executive branch, including the White House and all federal agencies and members of the armed services — a work force that numbers more than four million — but not to those who work for Congress or the federal court system, according to a person familiar with the plan.

The spread of the highly infectious variant had pushed the country’s daily average caseload over 150,000 for the first time since late January, overwhelming hospitals in hard-hit areas and killing roughly 1,500 people a day. The surge has alarmed Biden and his top health advisers, who see mass vaccination as the only way to bring the pandemic under control.

Biden, who was briefed by his team of coronavirus advisers on Wednesday afternoon, will address about six areas where his administration can encourage — or, at this point, push — more eligible Americans to receive vaccines.

Biden had already pushed federal workers to get vaccinated by announcing that those who refused would have to undergo regular testing.

The mandates are a marked shift for Biden.

New York Times News Service