Why does Biden’s vaccine mandate not apply to welfare recipients and others?

On Sept. 9, President Biden declared that all companies with more than 100 employees must “ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.”

According to Biden’s federal vaccine mandate, any company that does not comply will face a fine of $14,000 per case.

During his speech, Biden also declared that “all nursing home workers who treat patients on Medicare and Medicaid” and that “those who work in hospitals, home healthcare facilities, or other medical facilities” as well as “all executive branch federal employees” and “federal contractors” must get vaccinated.

If these Americans choose not to get vaccinated, they will lose their livelihoods. As Biden said, “This is not about freedom or personal choice.”

But Biden’s federal vaccine mandate does not apply to Americans on welfare, illegal immigrants, members of Congress, U.S. Postal Service employees and several other groups.

This is not only unfair, but it flies in the face of Biden’s goal “to require more Americans to be vaccinated, to combat those blocking public health.”

So, per Biden’s edict, Americans who work at a company that employs more than 100 people have no choice but to get vaccinated. The same standard applies to the health care workers who have heroically put their lives on the line treating COVID-19 patients.

But for reasons unexplained, Biden refuses to mandate vaccines for the 59 million Americans who receive welfare benefits.

Put another way, Biden is mandating that the Americans who supply most of the tax revenue to pay for America’s welfare system be vaccinated or lose employment. But the beneficiaries of the welfare state are exempt.

This is even more flummoxing given that data shows Medicaid recipients are among the least vaccinated.

In Georgia, for example, only 10 percent of Medicaid recipients were fully vaccinated, compared with 33 percent of the Peach State’s general population, as of May 31. Similarly, in Idaho, only 20 percent of Medicaid recipients were fully vaccinated, while 44 percent of the state’s general population had been fully vaccinated, as of June 1.Similar trends apply throughout the states.

Illegal immigrants are also exempt from Biden’s vaccine mandate.

According to a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “The Department of Homeland Security continues its vaccination efforts to include voluntary vaccinations for individuals in the care and custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

Once again, for working American citizens, Biden says it is not about freedom or personal choice, but for illegal immigrants, vaccinations are voluntary.

When pressed about this blatant double standard, Biden’s White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, simply replied, “That’s correct.”

Apparently, voluntary vaccination also applies to Postal Service workers. According to Dave Partenheimer, a Postal Service spokesman, “The COVID-19 vaccination requirements included in the White House executive order issued on September 9, 2021 for federal employees do not apply to the Postal Service.”

Finally, Biden’s vaccine mandate does not apply to Congress, even though there are 535 members, which puts Congress well over the 100-employee threshold.

Biden’s vaccine mandate is narrowly targeted toward the 80 to 100 million American citizens who get up and go to work but ignores the 60 million Americans on welfare, the thousands who illegally cross our southern border every day, the 640,000 Postal Service workers and Congress, among others.

Biden’s vaccine mandate is not about getting the vulnerable vaccinated. It is about the Biden administration unfairly and unnecessarily forcing hard-working Americans to choose between their bodily autonomy and their livelihood.

Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is senior editor at The Heartland Institute.