President Biden has made a fresh and urgent appeal tonight for Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19.He's also put some 2.7 million federal workers on notice. They now have a big decision to make about getting their shots.White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor begins our coverage.Today at the White House, President Biden announced that all federal employees and contractors are required to be vaccinated against COVID or undergo weekly testing.Masking is one defense against the spread of COVID-19, but make no mistake. Vaccines are the best defense against you getting severely ill from COVID-19.President Biden also called on states and localities to use federal funds to pay anyone who gets vaccinated $100.I know that paying people to get vaccinated might sound unfair to folks who have gotten vaccinated already, but here's the deal. If incentives help us beat this virus, I believe we should use them.And small and medium-sized businesses will now be reimbursed for offering their employees paid leave to get their family members, including their kids, vaccinated.Meanwhile, the new requirement for federal workers currently does not include those in the U.S. military.But the president is calling on the Department of Defense to look into how and when they could be added to the list.And the White House says federal employees who choose not to get vaccinated will not be fired.The president's decision comes at a time when the highly transmissible Delta variant is rapidly spreading across the country.
