CNBC host Jim Cramer says a nationwide COVID-19 vaccine mandate is the only way for the U.S. to beat the pandemic.
Cramer made his comments on CNBC’s "Mad Money" on Monday.
"With the new omicron variant sweeping the globe, how do we finally put an end to this pandemic?" he said. "How do we save lives and get business back to normal so everybody can put dinner on the table?"
"Simple. The federal government needs to require vaccines, including booster shots, for everyone in America by, say, January 1st.
"There are still some things that need to be done on a national level. And this is one.
"It’s time to admit that our government has lost the ability, or the will, to make our people do the right thing. Nobody wants to be the bad guy, so we’ve allowed a pastiche of uncoordinated health organizations to dictate an on-again-off-again series of measures that mostly just leave us baffled and confused.
"We haven’t centralized the issue to the point where the White House actually seems to take responsibility. First was the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] then the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], then the National Institutes of Health, mostly coordinating policy through talk shows. Then we left vaccination policy to individual companies. Now it’s toothless OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration) going back and forth on what’s allowed in factories, but nobody with any power saying the frontline workers need to be vaccinated. It’s just plain wrong, and most of us are sick of it."
And he added: "Even as a vocal, anti-vax minority is always grabbing the mic, this charade must end. The government must require vaccinations. Not of this group or that group, not company by company, in a cruise ship by cruise ship, or airline by airline or governor by governor. The buck stops at the White House.
"It’s time to admit that we have to go to war against COVID. Require vaccination universally. Have the military run it. If you don’t want to be vaccinated you must be ready to prove your conscientious objector status in court."
Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management and Budget is reportedly telling federal agencies they can hold off suspending or firing federal workers for not complying with a vaccine mandate until after the holidays.
ABC News, which reported Monday it had obtained the memo on the guidance, said the change hasn’t been publicly announced — and comes as President Joe Biden is putting pressure on private employers to embrace their own vaccine mandates.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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