White House says millions of government contractors must be vaccinated by December 8

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (Reuters) – The White House said on Friday that millions of federal contractors were to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 8 and that the administration would add clauses to future government contracts requiring vaccinations .

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on September 9 requiring federal contractors to oblige vaccinations, but many US companies with federal contracts have waited for formal guidance from the White House before moving forward.

US airlines were among the industries awaiting confirmation, as they sometimes have contracts to sell tickets to government employees. The December 8 deadline was first reported by Reuters.

Jason Miller, deputy director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, said in a blog post on Friday that “the guidance released today advances one of the main goals of this science plan: to get more vaccinated of people “.

Miller said the contractor vaccination policy “will reduce worker absences, reduce labor costs, and improve the efficiency of contractors and sub-contractors doing work for the federal government.”

An administration official said he was interpreting the vaccination requirements for contractors “at large,” saying they extended beyond those working in federal buildings.

Steve Case, a King & Spalding lawyer specializing in government contracts, said he expects the order to impact tens of millions of American workers or more.

For example, if a federal contractor is going to work at another office in their company, employees in that second office will also need to be vaccinated, even if they are not working on a government contract, Case said.

“The tentacles have a great reach,” said Case. “The number affected by this will be huge. It is probably in the top tens of millions.”

The new directive states that employees of contractors covered by the rules “must be fully vaccinated by December 8,” and adds that after this date for future contracts, employees must be vaccinated before the first day of performance of a new or extended contract.

The guide adds that subcontracted employees “working on a covered contract from their residence must also comply with the vaccination requirement”.

A federal official told Reuters that supply contracts with the government in general are covered, especially for service contracts. The requirements should also apply to government contracts for manufacturing specific products for the government, such as defense contracts, rather than standard products, the official said.

The HR Policy Association, representing the human resources directors of more than 390 of the United States’ largest employers, covering 11 million American workers, said it would submit formal comments to the Biden administration “to highlight areas where greater clarity is needed “.

The government said all covered contractors must be vaccinated “except in limited circumstances where an employee is legally entitled to housing.” Contractors must review documentation from covered employees to prove their immunization status.

Earlier this month, the White House said most federal employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 22.

Last week, leading defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX.N), missile maker Tomahawk, demanded that its 125,000 US employees get vaccinated.

The Labor Department separately plans to issue an emergency temporary standard requiring employers with more than 100 workers to have them vaccinated or tested every week – a policy that is expected to cover more than 80 million workers. Read more

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said last week that the rule would be released in October.

Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Matthew Lewis and Sonya Hepinstall

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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