Biden opens up new front in Covid-19 vaccination war as concerns over variant deepen

The decision by the White House, in the works for several days and announced by Biden late on Thursday afternoon, comes as the Delta variant fuels another wave of infections and, among the unvaccinated, rising hospitalizations and deaths.

The severity of the variant was underscored later Thursday with reports of an internal document from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlining unpublished data that shows fully vaccinated people might spread the Delta variant at the same rate as unvaccinated people.

"We all benefit if we can get more people vaccinated."

Biden also praised private businesses and institutions, like the National Football League, that are imposing strict new measures and, in some cases, mandates that their employees get vaccinated, or face being effectively locked out of their jobs or made to look for new ones.

In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients spoke in stark terms about what vaccine holdouts working in government faced, describing "a difficult system of regular testing, masking, social distancing" and a ban on travel for work.

"We believe that people will do the right thing," Zients said.

"The one thing I will say is I've been heartened in the past couple of days to see more people taking action in response to the fact that it's bad -- more organizations, businesses, states, localities taking the action that's needed to get us out of this."

Biden has stopped short of imposing even more stringent vaccine requirements, and Zients told Blitzer Thursday that a nationwide vaccine requirement is "not an authority that we're exploring at all," noting that the "Justice Department has said that it is legal for employers to require vaccinations."

Shortly after Biden spoke, the Department of Defense announced that all military and civilian personnel would be asked to attest to their vaccination status or face new requirements "to wear a mask, physically distance, comply with a regular testing requirement and be subject to official travel restrictions."

The department, which already has a list of required vaccinations for military personnel at home and overseas, stopped short of adding the Covid shots to the roster, but is considering it.

For the time being, the White House seems content to see whether its hardened position spurs a spike in vaccinations, while also hoping that it provides more space for the private sector to adopt tough new requirements.

"I think you're going to find the patience of businesses, the patience of a lot of other people running thin," Biden said, "because the fact is, if you had high vaccination rates, we wouldn't be in this spot right now."

A growing number of high-profile tech companies, health care providers and retail chains have already begun to insist their employees get vaccinated.

Google, Facebook, Netflix, ride-share giants Uber and Lyft, along with Saks Fifth Avenue and others either conditioning employment on vaccination or coming right up to the line -- in some cases, like with bankers Morgan Stanley, banning unvaccinated employees from setting foot in its headquarters.

The NFL recently jarred the sports world with the announcement that teams unable to play games because of Covid outbreaks caused by unvaccinated players or staff faced the potential of being made to forfeit games and game checks, a move that spurred a backlash from some players, but also -- at least anecdotally -- led some to relent and get inoculated.

Republicans' mixed messages

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has consistently embraced the vaccine, is the narrator of a new, 60-second radio ad running in his state of Kentucky that, calling back on his own experience with polio, urges constituents to get vaccinated.

"Back then, it took decades for us to develop a vaccine," McConnell says in the spot, describing the creation and distribution of the three available Covid-19 shots as "nothing short of a modern medical miracle."

Biden on Thursday praised McConnell, noted that some Fox News hosts have begun to encourage viewers to get the shots, and shouted out another Republican, Alabama Gov.

It's the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down."

But plenty of high-profile Republicans -- even those encouraging vaccines -- have mocked the recent public health guidance.

Florida Gov.