Yesterday, the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to require its employees to be vaccinated. The news came as officials from New York City and the state of California announced similar mandates for their workers.<ul>
<li>Plus, tempering expectations for the January 6 committee.</li>
<li>And, what COVID-19 taught us about friendships.</li>
</ul>Guests: Axios' Caitlin Owens, Alayna Treene, Mike Allen, Ina Fried, and author of Friends Forever, Suzanne Degges-White.Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

An emotional first day for the Jan. 6 committee

Axios podcast host Niala Boodhoo digs deep with leaders you know — or need to know — in business, politics and culture. Every week, all in under 20 minutes.

About Axios: Axios is a digital media company launched in 2017. Axios helps you become smarter, faster with news and information across politics, tech, business, media, science and the world. Subscribe to our newsletters at axios.com/newsletters and download our mobile app at axios.com/app. 

About Niala Boodhoo: Niala Boodhoo is the host of 1 big thing and previously hosted Axios Today She was the founding Host and Executive Producer of the award-winning news program The 21st. An alum of Reuters, The Miami Herald and WBEZ/Chicago, Niala was a 2019-2020 Knight-Wallace fellow.