ARTICLE
According to updated guidance from the Biden Administration’s Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, the White House is again extending the deadline for federal contractors to become fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The new deadline is now January 18, 2022, a two-week delay from the Administration’s recently announced extension to January 4, 2022 to coincide with the deadline for OSHA’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard. The updated guidance states that “covered contractor employees must be fully vaccinated no later than January 18, 2022.” After that date, the Task Force notes, “all covered contractor employees must be fully vaccinated by the first day of the period of performance on a newly awarded covered contract, and by the first day of the period of performance on an exercised option or extended or renewed contract when the clause has been incorporated into the covered contract.” According to the guidance, individuals are considered “fully vaccinated for COVID-19 two weeks after they have received the second dose in a two-dose series, or two weeks after they have received a single-dose vaccine.” The updated guidance is available in full here. Reminder: This mandate is different from the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) vaccination mandate. The federal contractor mandate is for those working in association with a federal contract. The ETS impacts all employers with 100 or more employees.