1. The federal govt. doesn't have a universal mandate forcing the vaccine on all U.S. citizens.
No, but it's trying some angles anyway, such as with the attempt to mandate vaccination for employees.
2. How have you determined that there is a return on the reimbursement and, if so, how much are you imagining?
Not directed at me, but since you are interested: There are many $billions in profits, many 10's of $billions in revenue, and many $billions in market-cap increase.
This is for half a year (1st half of 2021) in Covid vaccine sales:
Pfizer had revenue of $11 billion.
BioNTech had revenue of $22 billion and profit of $5.5 billion. Also, its stock went from $40 in 2020 to $241 today, an increase in market cap of $10 billion.
Moderna had revenue of $6 billion and profit of $4 billion. Also, its stock went from $19 in 2020 to $247 today, an increase in market cap of $8 billion.
This according to:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/11/covid-19-vaccines-the-contracts-prices-and-profitsAnd stock and market caps taken from finance.yahoo.com
Those profits aren't (in my opinion) bad if you want companies to come up with and produce such things for you. Also, $50 billion/year is small potatoes compared to the $trillions the government is spending otherwise on Covid-related stuff. But it's not charity work.