The Biden administration's vaccine mandate began with a roar and ends with a whisper.
President Joe Biden announced a federal vaccine mandate in September 2021 with a speech saying his "patience is wearing thin." More than 18 months later, the mandate will end on May 11, with the White House taking a decidedly low-key approach.
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"Do you guys plan to rehire anyone who was fired or voluntarily resigned under that policy?" the Washington Examiner asked press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday. "Would they get any sort of compensation, back pay, or anything like that?"
Jean-Pierre responded that she'll have more information in the coming days but not "anything new to share on that at this time."
The press secretary gave a similar response when asked how White House protocols might change, saying new details will come later, even though the mandate will end next Thursday.
That's in sharp contrast to when the mandate was announced. Biden's speech included harsh words for anyone who remained unvaccinated and promises that there would be consequences.
“My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: What more is there to wait for?” Biden said. “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin.”
The order included requiring all executive branch employees to be vaccinated, along with private businesses with more than 100 employees. Yet weeks passed before the rule was finalized. The Supreme Court later struck down the order on private businesses, while few federal employees were fired.
But Republicans, who fought against mandates from the start, celebrated their end as a win for freedom.
"Tennesseans have not forgotten — and will not forget — Biden's unjust COVID vaccine mandate," tweeted Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
The bigger impact may be on international travelers who will no longer have to prove their vaccination status in order to enter the United States. That was a big win for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a rising Republican star whose district scrapes the Canadian border.
“The lifting of this authoritarian mandate for Northern Border travelers is long overdue," she tweeted. "It is shameful that President Biden has waited this long to lift the draconian COVID-19 travel restrictions.”
It was north of the border that the most famous vaccine mandate protests took place, with Canadian truckers crashing Ottawa for a full month in opposition to vaccine mandates and restrictions.
Health experts interviewed for this story largely agreed that the time is right to end the mandates, though they also said they were appropriate at the time of implementation.
"In 2023, when most persons in the U.S. already have been vaccinated, infected, or both vaccinated and infected, the need for the federal vaccine mandate has ended," Dr. Richard Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University, said. "The federal vaccine mandate was helpful at the time it was introduced and would have been even more helpful had the Biden Administration applied it earlier and more broadly."
Ebright added that employees who were fired or resigned "most definitely should not" be reinstated, as their refusal was outside the conditions of their employment.
Dr. Steven Quay agreed that the time has come.
"The value of vaccines was at a maximum when the population was naive and the SARS-CoV-2 virus was novel," he said. "That time has long passed."
Biden may have oversold the effectiveness of the vaccines as he struggled to keep his campaign promise to shut down the virus, saying people who have received them "do not spread the disease to anyone else." That claim was later fact-checked and found mostly false.
The federal government held fast to its vaccine requirements even as the pandemic faded from the public consciousness, refusing to allow tennis star Novak Djokovic to play in the Miami Open just six weeks ago.
In lifting the mandate, the White House took a victory lap by saying its previous efforts are the reason the mandates can now be lifted.
"This announcement that we’re making is possible because of the historic progress that we have made over the last two years to fight COVID and ensure that people have the information and tools they need to keep themselves and their communities safe," Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 81% of Americans have had at least one shot, including 92% of adults.
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Even if the news doesn't generate protests or big headlines, some public health advocates maintain that vaccination remains important.
"We have seen over time that vaccination and prior infection continue to provide protection against severe illness, although they do not provide long-lasting protection against new infection," Bipartisan Policy Center Chief Medical Adviser Anand Parekh said. "It’s still important that all Americans, especially individuals who have pre-existing conditions and/or are older, stay up to date with vaccinations."