States such as Alabama, Florida and Missouri have also encouraged holdouts to get vaccinated, based on data that shows that vaccines protect against the most severe forms of the disease that lead to hospitalization and death. Confirmed coronavirus cases quadrupled across the U.S. in July, going from 13,000 cases per day at the start of the month to 54,000 now, reported The Washington Post.

Following the VA's announcement, Mayo Clinic also implemented a vaccine mandate that requires its employees to get their shots for COVID-19 by September 17. Those who choose not to will be required to complete education modules, wear a mask and socially distance when on the Mayo Clinic campus, according to KTTC News. Ascension also followed suit Tuesday morning.

“When we have the vaccines, they are freely available for everyone to get vaccinated, so we can stop the spread of the Delta variant, but also we can prevent the development of new variants," said Mayo Clinic Dr. Melanie Swift. "We were on the downtrend in the United States with increasing vaccination rates and decreasing new cases. And what has happened is that we've gone from having our first case of the Delta Variant in the United States in March, to it now being the vast majority of our sequenced cases.”

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