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President Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccine requirements for federal workers in the East Room of the White House, July 29, 2021. (AP) President Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccine requirements for federal workers in the East Room of the White House, July 29, 2021. (AP)

President Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccine requirements for federal workers in the East Room of the White House, July 29, 2021. (AP)

Andy Nguyen
By Andy Nguyen August 27, 2021

COVID-19 shot is mandated at White House, CDC and vaccine makers, contrary to a viral image

If Your Time is short

  • The COVID-19 vaccine has been mandated for all federal workers in the United States, including the White House, CDC and FDA. Makers of the three COVID-19 vaccines used in the U.S. have also required their employees to get vaccinated.
     
  • Those who choose not to get the vaccine at any of the organizations must undergo regular testing for the virus.
     
  • The World Health Organization does not currently support vaccine mandates, advocating instead for information campaigns and vaccine accessibility.

A social media post circulating online purports to expose the hypocrisy of vaccination advocates by claiming that the White House, public-health agencies and vaccine manufacturers don’t require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Aug. 19 Facebook post shows a screenshot of a tweet from a user named Mike Yoder. 

The tweet is headlined "List of employers NOT requiring their employees to get vaccinated," and then lists the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization, Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

Then it tells people to "wake up."

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The screenshot also appeared on a separate Instagram post.

It’s not clear whether the screenshot is of an authentic tweet from Yoder, a conservative lawyer who has tweeted skepticism of COVID-19 vaccines before. The tweet about employers does not appear on his page.

In any case, the claim in the post is incorrect. All but one of the employers listed in the screenshot do have COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their workers.

President Joe Biden announced on July 29 that all federal workers would have to verify their vaccination status. Unvaccinated workers are required to wear face coverings, distance themselves from other people and take weekly screening tests.

The directive applies to all federal workers, including those at the White House, and at federal agencies like the CDC and FDA.

Moderna said Aug. 19 that it would institute a vaccine mandate for all its U.S. workers starting Oct. 1. Requests for medical or religious exemptions will be considered case by case, the company said.   

Pfizer announced on Aug. 4 that it would require all of its employees and contractors in the U.S. to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or take weekly screening tests.

Johnson & Johnson will require all of its U.S.-based employees and contractors to be vaccinated by Oct. 4, with exemptions for people with medical or religious objections. 

The only organization on the list that doesn't have a current or planned vaccine mandate for its workers is the WHO. 

The Switzerland-based organization has workers in 150 countries, and doesn’t endorse a mandate.

"The World Health Organization does not presently support the direction of mandates for COVID-19 vaccination, having argued that it is better to work on information campaigns and making vaccines accessible," the organization said in April.

Our ruling

A social media post claims the COVID-19 vaccine is not mandated for workers at the White House, the vaccine manufacturers and several health organizations.

All but one of the organizations listed in the post have some form of COVID-19 vaccine requirement for their employees. In most cases, the mandates were announced before the post was published.

We rate this claim Mostly False.

Our Sources

Facebook post, Aug. 19, 2021

Instagram post, Aug. 20, 2021

Mike Yoder’s Twitter page, accessed Aug. 24, 2021

Mike Yoder tweet, Aug. 24, 2021

Archive.Today, Mike Yoder’s Aug. 24 tweet, Aug. 25, 2021

Mike Yoder tweet, Aug. 23, 2021

Archive.Today, Mike Yoder’s Aug. 23 tweet, Aug. 25, 2021

The White House, "FACT SHEET: President Biden to Announce New Actions to Get More Americans Vaccinated and Slow the Spread of the Delta Variant," July 29, 2021

Moderna, "COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement for All Workers in the U.S.," Aug. 20, 2021

CNBC, "Pfizer will require U.S. employees to get Covid vaccine or undergo weekly testing," Aug. 4, 2021

Fierce Pharma, "Pfizer, Eli Lilly and J&J roll out COVID-19 vaccination rules as delta makes case for mandates," Aug. 16, 2021

World Health Organization, "COVID-19 and mandatory vaccination: Ethical considerations and caveats," April 13, 2021

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COVID-19 shot is mandated at White House, CDC and vaccine makers, contrary to a viral image

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