Covid-19 Vaccine Requirement – What This Means for Federal Contractors and How to Prepare

On September 9, 2021, The White House issued a statement concerning the Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors[1]. An executive order is a means of issuing federal directives in the U.S., used by the President of the United States. The Biden Administration still needs to provide direct guidance to federal contractors in this executive order. However, now is the time for federal contractors to discuss vaccine mandates and the potential impact to their workforce and culture. 

Federal contractors may feel increased pressure and changes from these mandates further than the vaccination requirement. Preparing now for how the mandates will impact your workforce can help to ensure your business is prepared to be successful. From a business perspective, will it impact the competitiveness of federal contractors that are held to higher standards than non-federal contractors when it comes to COVID-19 protocols? 

Assess Your Organization and Workforce. Opinions around COVID-19 are strong and with the Delta variant continuing to spread the uncertainty for fall is continuing to climb. Those that manage or work with government contractors should start assessing their workforce and gauging how the mandates will be affecting them. Here’s where a portion of the unvaccinated stand: as of early September, among the 29% of U.S. voters who are unvaccinated, 83% say they do not plan to get the vaccine.[2] However, 55% of the voters polled also support private businesses mandating vaccination for staff.[3] Now is the time to review who key workers are, and they tasks they perform so that if business is disrupted the work is able to be completed. How will this population react to the mandate and affect the work they do? It’s important to have a contingency plan in place.

Carrot or Stick Method. The FDA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine[4] prompted Delta Airlines to start charging unvaccinated employees an additional $200 per month to participate in the health insurance plan.[5] This transition from a “carrot” to “stick” approach started just prior to The White House’s statement. Currently, health and life insurance carriers do not appear to be charging or intend on charging unvaccinated members more than vaccinated members.[6] The decision to charge employees based on vaccinations status appears to remain an employer decision. 

What Are the Next Steps? It is important for federal contractors to partner with an insurance advisor that can guide them through the complicated web of Covid-19 regulations and requirements. As the federal contractor industry awaits further guidance from The White House, it is important to consider the following:

• Update employees on the executive order and let them know that vaccine mandates are possible/likely in the future, which could impact their employment.
• Consider speaking with contracting officers to understand how they will incorporate and interpret the executive order on an individual contract level. 
• Consider speaking with an insurance advisor to understand impact on fully vaccinated.
• How would employee terminations for vaccine non-compliance effect the ability of a contractor to fulfill their contract obligations?

Regardless of how a contractor or their employees feel about the recent White House statement and COVID-19 vaccine mandates, now is the time to prepare. Talking to an insurance advisor is a great start to get a plan into place so that all contract obligations are fulfilled. Contact the AssuredPartners Government Contracting team today to plan for the future.

 

[1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/09/09/executive-order-on-requiring-coronavirus-disease-2019-vaccination-for-federal-employees/

[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/10/cnbc-poll-shows-very-little-will-persuade-unvaccinated-americans-to-get-covid-shots.html

[3] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/10/cnbc-poll-shows-very-little-will-persuade-unvaccinated-americans-to-get-covid-shots.html

[4] https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-covid-19-vaccine

[5] https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/delta-add-200-monthly-health-insurance-charge-unvaccinated-staff-2021-08-25/

[6] https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/coronavirus/does-your-vaccination-status-impact-your-health-insurance-premium