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 In total, the administration has deemed that 95% of federal workers
have complied with its requirements in that they have either been
vaccinated, are completing vaccinations or have a pending religious
or medical exemption request, the White House said.
Officials declined to disclose the total number of fully vaccinated
federal employees, but said the "vast majority" of the 90% had
received both doses.
White House officials on Monday confirmed the figures first reported
by Reuters.
The figures suggest relatively high vaccination rates for federal
employees compared with the U.S. population as a whole, and
underscore the Biden administration's effort to get every American
inoculated in a drive to bring COVID-19 under control.
Officials said the final numbers would change as employees continue
to submit documentation until the deadline later on Monday, and as
all employee submissions may not yet have been processed. The
figures suggest that potentially 175,000 federal employees may not
be vaccinated and are not yet in compliance with the rules.
The administration has repeatedly said that it will not immediately
seek to suspend or fire unvaccinated employees. Officials said the
fact that thousands of employees had not yet complied would not
affect holiday travel or government services.
"Already 95% of (U.S. government) employees are in compliance with
the president’s vax requirement. There are no disruptions related to
the requirement," White House spokesman Kevin Munoz said on Twitter.
White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said 99% of
employees at the Federal Aviation Administration, nearly 98% of
Customs and Border Protection and 93% of Transportation Security
Administration employees are in compliance with the vaccine and
exemption requirements.
"Looking at the federal workforce vaccination data makes one thing
obvious: Vaccination requirements work," Zients said.
[to top of second column] |
 Zients added that 99% of
employees at the FBI, 98% at the Internal
Revenue Service and 99% of employees in the
White House Executive Office of the President
are in compliance.
On Nov. 1, the Pentagon said 97% of the
active-duty force had received at least one
COVID-19 dose.
'EDUCATION AND COUNSELING'
The vaccine mandate imposed by President Joe
Biden in September does not cover federal
employees in the judicial and legislative
branches or the U.S. Postal Service.
The White House has told that for federal employees not in
compliance, agencies should begin "a brief period of education and
counseling" to last five days. If employees do not "demonstrate
progress toward becoming fully vaccinated," that "should be followed
by a short suspension" of no more than 14 days. If an employee gets
a first shot, agencies are directed to halt any disciplinary action.
Officials are confident that as the disciplinary process begins, a
rising number of federal employees will get vaccinated.
On Wednesday, the White House Office of Management and Budget will
release agency-by-agency data on vaccinated employees and those in
compliance with the rules from 24 major federal agencies like the
Defense Department, Transportation Department, Health and Human
Services and others. More granular data will be released in the
following week.
Employees who have an exemption request denied have two weeks to get
their first shot and a further six weeks to get their second.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Peter
Cooney)
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