Unvaccinated federal employees have until the end of Monday, Nov. 8 to get a dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine or risk facing disciplinary action from their agencies.
Under President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal workers, any fed without a legally required religious or medical exemption from getting the COVID-19 vaccine must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 22.
Because full vaccination occurs two weeks after the final dose of any COVID-19 vaccine series, feds that have not received any vaccine dose up to this point only have the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine option to meet the deadline.
Both Moderna and Pfizer require a two-dose series. For feds that have only received their first dose in either of those two series, Nov. 8 also marks the last day for them to receive their final dose and meet the deadline.
Though some federal employee groups have protested the deadlines and enforcement mechanisms were not properly negotiated with collective bargaining units, agencies have been given the go-ahead to begin enacting disciplinary measures Nov. 9 for any employee not yet vaccinated.
Those disciplinary measures would follow a structure of five days of counseling, a 14-day suspension and finally removal measures, under recommendations issued by the Office of Personnel Management.
Federal contractors have slightly longer to get their employees vaccinated, as the federal government has given them until Jan. 4 to ensure covered employees are protected against the virus.
Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.
