Federal Mandate on COVID Vaccinations at Work

As you may already know, the US federal government recently announced a new COVID vaccine mandate that will affect many workers. More recently, news has appeared that enforcement of the new mandate for federal workers will begin on November 9, 2021.

In case you’re not up-to-date, here’s who will be affected by the mandate:

• • All employers with 100 or more employees. These employers must require their workers to be (1) fully vaccinated or (2) get tested weekly to come to work. OSHA has been tasked with implementing these requirements and will soon publish an updated emergency temporary standard (ETS). 
  • All federal employees 
  • Employees of contractors that do business with the US federal government
    Head Start programs and schools run by the Department of Defense and/or the Bureau of Indian Education 
  • Employees in health care facilities that receive funds from Medicare and/or Medicaid (this includes hospitals and home health agencies) 
  • People applying to become lawful permanent US residents, as announced by US Citizenship and Immigration Services

The new federal policy also calls on state officials to require teachers and school staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID, calls on entertainment venues to require either a proof of negative test or a proof of vaccination for admission, and increases fines for people who violate mask requirements on planes, trains, and buses.

So some workplaces are going to have quite a bit of work to do to implement these new federal COVID-related requirements, keeping on top of who’s been vaccinated, who’s been tested this week, and so on. 

At VectorSolutions, we offer Return-to-Work software to make it easier for organizations to manage return-to-work COVID-related occupational health issues vaccinations and testing (and a lot more) easier to manage (see this earlier, related article for how Vector Solutions LiveSafe makes returning to work in the COVID era easier). This includes:

• Automating daily health check-in questionnaires
• Providing reliable and effective two-way health and safety communication
• Ensuring employees have transparent access to the latest guidance/policies about COVID-19

The return-to-work functionality within LiveSafe is just one component of the entire mobile risk-communication platform functionality that LiveSafe offers, and that partner so well with our Vector EHS Management software and our online health and safety training courses (including these free COVID-related online training courses from our Vector Cares complimentary training library). Check out our comprehensive offerings for health and safety solutions and let us know how we can help.

And remember, stay safe and healthy out there! Mask up, social distance, get vaccinated, and watch out for your friends, families, and coworkers.