Former officials from the Obama administration are urging vaccine mandates once the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants full approval to one or more of the shots.

Further, NBC News reports that health experts are predicting that the mandates will be ‘more likely’ once the FDA approves.

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“I think once the vaccines go through full FDA approval, everything should be on the table, and I think that everything will be on the table at the level of municipalities, states, employers, venues, government agencies,” Andy Slavitt said.

Slavitt was charged with the implementation of the Obamacare at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under Obama and recently stepped down as President Joe Biden’s COVID response coordinator.

He remains in close contact with administration officials, according to the report.

 

Former Obama Officials: We Need Vaccine Mandates

While Slavitt was suggesting everything be on the table – including mandates – to increase the number of COVID vaccines in the arms of Americans, Kathleen Sebelius, who served as health secretary under Obama, was using fear to push the same message.

“Shame on us if we sit here in July and don’t do something to increase the vaccination rates and then we can’t open schools or have a situation where, God forbid, the economy takes another hit because businesses have to shut back down,” said Sebelius.

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Slavitt, according to NBC News, pointed out that many Americans have said the only way to get them to take the vaccine is via a mandate.

“I think every government agency ought to rethink what’s appropriate,” he noted.

“There are a number of people in surveys, by the way, who say precisely these words, ‘I’m not going to take it, unless it’s required.’”

 

Would Be First Federal Vaccine Mandate

NBC writes that a vaccine mandate would be unique outside of the federal workforce as “no federal vaccination mandate has ever been tested in court and none has ever been issued for the general population.”

Instead, they are usually mandated at the state and local levels.

Another former Obama official listed in the NBC News report mentioned vaccine mandates from employers.

“I do think it is a responsibility of employers and others that have the ability to mandate it at their sites,” Zeke Emanuel said. “It is not like it is easy, but this is a moment of leadership and sometimes when you are a leader, you have to do hard things.”

Emanuel, an advisory board member appointed to President Biden’s coronavirus task force and one of the architects of Obamacare, has argued in the past that he views living past the age of 75 as undesirable.

News of a potential vaccine mandate on the horizon, should the FDA grant approval, comes as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continue to urge Americans to get the shot.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed vaccines against COVID-19, suggesting not doing so amidst a rise in positive cases could lead the country back to draconian lockdown orders.

“These shots need to get in everybody’s arms as rapidly as possible,” McConnell said, “or we’re going to be back in a situation in the fall that we don’t yearn for — that we went through last year.”

“This is not complicated,” he added.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined last week to indicate whether the administration was considering making the vaccine a requirement for the military or the federal workforce.

NBC explains that FDA approval would “remove a significant legal and public relations barrier for businesses and government agencies that want to require vaccinations for their employees and customers.”

Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams has said the FDA has “no clear timetable” on granting approval for the vaccines.

This piece originally appeared in ThePoliticalInsider.com and is used by permission.

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