Vaccine requirements for federal contractors: What we know today

By Jeff Ellinport, Division Counsel

In the next 10 days, expect specific guidance on how federal contractors will need to respond to the COVID vaccine mandate from the Biden administration.

On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order “Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors” (the “EO”). This order will require many federal contractors to have their employees either fully vaccinated or subject to regular COVID-19 testing.

Here is what we know 

The EO leaves some of the details regarding the requirements for federal contractors to others. Specifically, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) in a few weeks, and the recently created Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (the “Task Force”) is to issue specific federal contractor guidance by September 24.