95% of the federal workforce is in compliance with President Biden’s vaccine requirement for employees of the federal government, a senior administration official said Monday.
Nov. 22 marked the deadline for more than 3.5 million federal employees to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19, after the president’s September executive order mandated those individuals be vaccinated.
A senior administration official told Fox News Monday that the Biden administration has achieved 95% compliance across the federal government—meaning that employees have had at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, or have pending or approved exception or extension requests.
The official said that more than 90% of those employees have had at least one shot, with “the vast majority of those employees being fully vaccinated.”
“These numbers make one thing perfectly clear: vaccination requirements work,” the official said, adding that the Nov. 22 deadline “is not an end point,” noting that officials continue to see federal employees providing their information and getting vaccinated.
The official added that agencies within the federal government will continue to process and review the information about employee vaccinations, as well as requests for legally required exceptions or extensions due to documented medical necessities.
“For the small percentage of employees who have not complied, or who do not have a pending or approved exception or extension request, agencies are beginning an education and counseling process, followed by additional enforcement steps over time if needed,” the official said.
“There won’t be disruptions to government services and operations,” the official continued, adding that “at each step of this process we’ll see even more employees getting vaccinated.”
The official added that the administration hopes that the implementation of the vaccine requirement in the federal workforce “can serve as an example for other businesses of every size to move forward with similar measures that will protect their workforce, protect their customers, and protect our communities.”
Meanwhile, the Office and Management and Budget on Wednesday plans to release a summer chart with agency data to date regarding the percentage of employees at each agency who are in compliance with the requirement— meaning they are vaccinated with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or have a pending or approved exception or extension request.
