White House Walks Back Biden Statement that National Vaccine Mandate Is Under Consideration

"A national vaccine requirement is not under consideration at this time. That’s where we are with that."

That didn't take long. Yesterday, President Biden slipped that he has asked DOJ for an opinion about the validity of a national vaccine mandate. Today, the White House walked that statement back:

The White House is not presently considering a national requirement for the COVID-19 vaccine, principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday.

"A national vaccine requirement is not under consideration at this time. That's where we are with that," Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing.

Uh huh. Tell it to OLC.

I've started working on a longer piece about the statutory and constitutional arguments for a vaccine mandate with respect to 42 U.S.C. § 264. Stay tuned.

Update: In an interview, the CDC Director said that the administration was "looking" at vaccine mandate, but then issued a corrected tweet:

.@BerkeleyJr To clarify: There will be no nationwide mandate. I was referring to mandates by private institutions and portions of the federal government. There will be no federal mandate.

— Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) July 30, 2021