‘Medical coercion’: U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs still insists on COVID vax mandate

By J.M. Phelps

Despite the purported end-of-an-era for vaccine mandates, the COVID-19 shot requirement is still enforced at the Veterans Health Administration.

On May 9, 2023, former president Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14099 – “Moving Beyond COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for Federal Workers.” His order revoked a previous executive order dated Sept. 9, 2021, which once required COVID-19 injections for federal employees.

However, months before Biden’s 2021 federal worker mandate, the Department of Veterans Affairs had already instituted its own COVID-19 vaccine requirement for frontline healthcare workers. On July 26, 2021, VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced that all Veterans Health Administration employees providing direct patient care – such as physicians, nurses and dentists – would be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This was formalized in VHA Directive 1193 on Aug. 13, 2021, and made the VA the first federal agency to mandate COVID-19 vaccination. This mandate for healthcare workers operated independently from Biden’s later federal employee order.