WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs will require 115,000 of its frontline health care workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the next two months, making it the first federal agency to mandate that employees be inoculated, government officials said on Monday.
The move comes as concern is growing that the substantial portion of the population that has not been vaccinated is contributing to the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. While it was a sharp departure from the Biden administration’s reluctance to embrace mandates, it was part of a broader shift in which New York City, many hospital chains and some private employers are deciding that the time has come to make being vaccinated a requirement.
“I am doing this because it’s the best way to keep our veterans safe, full stop,” Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, said in a telephone interview on Monday. The department is one of the largest federal employers and is the biggest integrated health care system in the country.
The mandate will apply to workers who are “the most patient-facing,” Mr. McDonough said, including doctors, dentists, registered nurses, physician assistants and some specialists. Beginning on Wednesday, those health care workers will have eight weeks to get fully vaccinated or face penalties including possible removal, he said.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, reiterated the Biden administration’s position on Friday that mandating vaccinations was a decision for the private sector companies and local communities. But the decision at the department reflects a growing consensus among private sector employers, health care centers, and state and local governments to test the legal waters on vaccine requirements as cases rise sharply around the nation.
On Monday in New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all municipal workers would be required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus by the time schools reopen in September or face weekly testing. The measure, which will apply to about 340,000 city workers, including teachers and police officers, follows a similar mandate for public health care workers there.
President Biden could legally require members of the military to get vaccinated, but so far he has declined to exercise that power. Military officials, while frustrated by a refusal among some service members to be vaccinated, have said their hands are tied until the vaccines have received formal approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Mr. McDonough said he had informed the White House of his decision.
Scores of hospitals and health care systems have compelled their employees to get vaccines, and recent court decisions have upheld employers’ rights to require vaccinations. In June, a federal judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit brought by employees of Houston Methodist Hospital who challenged the hospital’s coronavirus vaccination requirement.