ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. — President Joe Biden will be in the Chicago area Thursday to promote COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Biden is expected to arrive at O’Hare International Airport around 1 p.m. where he’ll meet with Gov. JB Pritzker, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the CEO of United Airlines, before heading to Elk Grove for a speech on vaccine mandates.

United Airlines was one of the first to mandate vaccinations for it’s nearly 70,000 employees with few exceptions.

The airline said almost of all its workers are now vaccinated, and those who didn’t get the shot face termination.

After that meeting, Biden will head to a construction site in Elk Grove where Clayco Inc., one of the largest construction companies in the Midwest, is working. Clayco required its employees to get vaccinated after the president announced the federal mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees last month.

The president is planning to talk about a White House report that vaccine mandates help drive up vaccination rates, which the White House believes will help get people back to work and help the economy.

Biden’s trip was originally scheduled for last week, but he stayed in Washington to try and move key pieces of his agenda through Congress.