US to End Last Remaining COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements

US to End Last Remaining COVID-19 Vaccine¹ Requirements

The administration of President Joe Biden says it will end most remaining federal COVID-19 vaccine requirements on May 11.

That date was chosen in February by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to end the country's Public Health Emergency for COVID-19.

Vaccine requirements for federal workers and federal contractors² will end on May 11. In addition, foreign air travelers to the United States will no longer be subject to existing vaccination³ rules, or mandates⁵.

The government has also begun the process of lifting vaccination requirements for some educators, healthcare workers, and noncitizens at U.S. land borders.

The Biden administration's COVID-19 coordinator⁶, Dr. Ashish Jha, recently spoke⁷ to the Associated Press (AP). He said: "While I believe that these vaccine mandates had a tremendous beneficial impact, we are now at a point where we think that it makes a lot of sense to pull these requirements down."

Biden used presidential powers to require vaccinations⁸ starting in the fall of 2021 as the nation's vaccination rate leveled off. At that time, different virus versions, called variants¹⁰, began to be reported. Some of the variants spread easily.

Politicians debated the vaccine requirements and legal action was brought against them in courts around the country.

At one time, more than 100 million people were covered by the U.S. vaccine mandates. Biden had ruled out such requirements before taking office in January 2021. But he became more open to the idea when much of the public refused to get vaccinated¹¹. His administration argued that people who did not get vaccinated were endangering the lives of others and harming the nation's economic recovery.

Federal courts and the U.S. Congress have already withdrawn¹² Biden's vaccine requirements for large employers and military service members.

More than 1.13 million people in the U.S. have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began more than three years ago. This number included 1,052 people during the week ending April 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. That was the lowest weekly death number from the virus since March 2020.

"COVID continues to be a problem," Jha said. "But our healthcare system or public health resources are far more able" to answer the threat that COVID presents. He added, "Some of these emergency powers are just not necessary in the same way anymore."

The CDC says more than 270 million people in the U.S., or just over 81 percent of the population, have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.

For more than a year, U.S. health officials have been considering how to create a long-term plan of action to fight COVID-19. The plan is expected to be similar to how officials currently deal with the flu. This would include releasing new vaccines¹³ yearly based on the latest versions of the virus.

Currently, U.S. officials say fewer than 56 million people in the U.S., or about 17 percent of the population, have received one shot of the latest COVID-19 vaccine to be developed.

Jha dismissed concerns that ending the international travel vaccination requirement would increase the risk of a new variant⁹ from overseas entering the U.S. Biden has already reduced virus testing requirements for both American citizens and foreign travelers to the U.S.

"We think that we are much more able to identify if a new variant shows up in the United States and respond effectively," Jha said.

Words in This Story

mandate⁴ –n. an official order to do something

beneficial – adj. helpful or useful

impact – n. the effect that a person, event or situation has on someone or something

 

influenza¹⁴ – n. short form of the term influenza: a sickness that is similar to a bad cold, often causing a high temperature, tiredness and other symptoms

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

4 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

5 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

6 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 vaccinations   

n.种痘，接种( vaccination的名词复数 )；牛痘疤

参考例句：

• Vaccinations ensure one against diseases. 接种疫苗可以预防疾病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I read some publicity about vaccinations while waiting my turn at the doctor's. 在医生那儿候诊时，我读了一些关于接种疫苗的宣传。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

10 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

11 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

12 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

13 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

14 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。