With holidays close, screeners for TSA face vaccine deadline
The number of airline passengers traveling for Thanksgiving this year is expected to rebound to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, but the Transportation Security Administration says it is ready to handle the surge.
Administrator David Pekoske said Wednesday he expects agency staffing to be sufficient for what’s traditionally TSA’s busiest travel period.
“We are prepared,” Pekoske told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He said travelers should expect long lines at airports and plan to spend a little more time getting through security.
In 2019, a record 26 million passengers and crew passed through U.S. airport screening in the 11-day period around Thanksgiving. But that plummeted in 2020 as the pandemic kept people at home.
Pekoske said he didn’t think a vaccine mandate going into effect for TSA agents Monday would have any effect on staffing for Thanksgiving next week.
“In fact, implementation of the mandate will make travel safer and healthier for everyone,” he said. “So, we see quite a significant increase in the number of our officers that are vaccinated, and I’m very confident that there will be no impact for Thanksgiving.”
As many as 40 percent of U.S. airport security screeners haven’t been vaccinated for COVID-19 as an immunization deadline for federal employees and the busy holiday travel season converge.
Many TSA workers are resisting the requirement as the Nov. 22 deadline approaches, said Hydrick Thomas, president of the American Federation of Government Employees’ division representing front-line airport security officers.
While neither Thomas nor the agency see any travel disruptions occurring around Thanksgiving, which at Nov. 25 is just three days later, the union chief said there could be staffing shortages during December holidays if the agency takes a hard line on unvaccinated workers.
“They are not going to be ready for Christmas if they get rid of everybody who chooses not to get vaccinated,” Thomas said. “If they don’t accommodate employees during these holidays coming upon us, we are going to have an issue with the screening process.”
He estimated those who are hesitant represent about four in 10, though acknowledged he didn’t have hard numbers.
The prospect of large numbers of unvaccinated workers raises multiple questions, including whether they increase the risks of transmitting the disease given their close encounters with many travelers every day. The TSA requires workers to wear masks and take other precautions against infection. The issue also reflects broader concerns in the aviation industry as some pilot unions are objecting to vaccine requirements and exemption policies they see as too limited.
TSA, whose screeners have been forced to work in close quarters with the public during the pandemic, has had 32 employees die as a result of COVID-19, according to its website. There are 271 active COVID-19 cases among agency employees, and more than 11,000 employees have been infecting during the pandemic.
The TSA, which has just completed a hiring surge to keep up with the gradual increases in post-pandemic flying and doesn’t anticipate any staffing losses though the holiday, predicts there won’t be any immediate disruptions as a result of President Joe Biden’s vaccination mandate.
“I don’t think implementation of the mandate will have any affect on staffing whatsoever on Thanksgiving,” Pekoske told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
The agency hasn’t released data on staff vaccinations, but Pekoske said it had seen “quite a significant increase.”
“We have made huge progress in our vaccination efforts, and as we approach the Nov. 22 deadline, we view that as not so much a cliff, but a step to further counsel any unvaccinated employees,” TSA spokesman Carter Langston said.
On the issue of whether there could be issues during the travel surge expected in the second half of December, Langston said: “It’s too early to get into any kind of projections on a holiday that’s a month out. We’re ready for this holiday travel season. We’re staffed and prepared.”
Federal guidelines say that federal employees who refuse to get vaccinated and don’t qualify for a religious or medical exemption may be fired, but such action won’t occur immediately. Agencies have been instructed to first conduct education and counseling. That makes firings of TSA workers unlikely during the holiday period.
“We know that we’ve lost too many TSA employees to COVID-19 and that vaccines are the best way to protect our workforce and our communities,” Langston said.
Also addressed on NBC’s “Today” on Wednesday is a continuing trend of unruly passengers.
TSA’s Pekoske said he remains “very concerned” about the issue as incidents on airplanes have continued.
“The level of unruly behavior is much higher than I’ve ever seen it,” he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration says it has referred 37 cases involving unruly airline passengers to the FBI for possible criminal prosecution since the number of disruptions on flights began to spike in January.