WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that all its medical facility employees will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19, becoming the first federal agency to issue a mandate.
The department said the mandate extends to all Veterans Affairs health care personnel who work in Veterans Health Administration facilities, visit VHA facilities or provide direct care to those VA services.
"We’re mandating vaccines for Title 38 employees because it’s the best way to keep Veterans safe, especially as the Delta variant spreads across the country," Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement.
It said that at least three of the employees died due to the hypertransmissible delta variant.
There have also been three Covid outbreaks at Veterans Affairs facilities, the most recent one occurring among unvaccinated employees and trainees at a law enforcement training center, the department said.
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