USDA had the lowest percentage of COVID vaccinated employees among all government departments, with 86 percent of employees receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
President Biden’s executive order requiring all federal employees to have COVID vaccination shots had a deadline of Nov. 22.
According to the White House, “in the 75 days since the President announced the vaccination requirement, the Federal Government has achieved 96.5% compliance—meaning employees who have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination or have a pending or approved exception request—with 92.0% of employees having received at least one COVID-19 vaccination dose.”
In a Nov. 24 statement, it said, “This week’s deadline wasn’t an end point. For those employees who are not yet in compliance, agencies are beginning a period of education and counseling, followed by additional enforcement steps, consistent with guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force and the Office of Personnel Management.”
The agencies besides USDA (86.1 percent) with less than 90 percent vaccination rate were Homeland Security (88.9 percent), Interior (88.3 percent), Justice (89.8 percent), Veterans Affairs (87.8 percent) and Social Security (87.7 percent).
