Over 90% of fed workers got a shot by deadline
WASHINGTON — More than 90% of federal workers received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Monday’s deadline set by President Joe Biden.
Biden announced in September that more than 3.5 million federal workers were required to undergo vaccination, with no option to get regularly tested instead, unless they secured an approved medical or religious exemption. A U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the vast majority of federal workers are fully vaccinated.
In all, more than 95% of federal workers are in compliance with the Biden mandate, the official said, either by being vaccinated or having requested an exemption. Workers who are not in compliance are set to begin a “counseling” process that could result in their termination if they don’t get a shot or secure an approved exception to vaccination.
The deadline is a major test of Biden’s push to compel people across the country to get vaccinated, as his administration has emphasized that vaccination is the nation’s surest way out from the pandemic.
At the Federal Aviation Administration, 99% of employees are in compliance with Biden’s order, at the Transportation Security Administration, 93% are in compliance, and 98% of Customs and Border
Protection workers are in compliance. Nearly 25% of the Internal Revenue Service’s employees started getting vaccinated after Biden’s announcement, and 98% of its employees are now in compliance with the requirement, the official said.
Since Biden announced the first federal mandates earlier this summer, the number of unvaccinated Americans aged 12 and over has dropped from 100 million to under 60 million.