Federal contractors have been scrambling to understand—and meet—the new COVID-19 safety requirements. The most onerous requirement is that covered contractor personnel be fully vaccinated.
As originally required, these personnel were to be fully vaccinated no later than December 8. Now, the White House has announced this deadline is extended, to January 4, 2022.
This change coincides with the government’s release of vaccination rules for businesses with 100 or more employees (set by OSHA) and for certain healthcare workers (set by HHS and CMS). Each of these separate requirements had vaccination deadlines of January 4.
To make the vaccination requirements consistent, the White House now says that covered contractor personnel will need to have their final COVID-19 vaccination dose by January 4, 2022.
This change is a bit of a reprieve for federal contractors trying to meet this new requirement. But this delay doesn’t mean that contractors need not take this requirement seriously. As the updated Task Force Guidance says, federal government contractors who fail to make a good faith effort to meet the requirement could face consequences—including terminated contracts.
If you have any questions about the COVID-19 safety protocols, please give me a call.