Federal vaccine verification plan in progress, personnel leader says – By Jessie Bur (Federal Times) / Aug 4 2021
The U.S. personnel office is working with agencies to determine the best way to implement President Joe Biden’s recent mandate that federal employees must verify they are vaccinated against COVID-19 or face workplace testing and restrictions.
“There will be more information to come to support agencies. There is a constant back and forth, of course, between the [Safer Federal Workforce] task force and agencies,” Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja said in an Aug. 4 call with reporters.
“So there’s just a lot of interplay of getting a lot of that feedback from the agency components, and certainly now that there’s additional requirements around testing, around vaccinations.”
Biden’s July 29 requirement outlines that employees who refuse to attest to their vaccination status or are not vaccinated will face restrictions, such as regular testing, mask requirements, social distancing from co-workers and travel restrictions. But the order did not set a timeframe or system for agencies to implement those changes.
