Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Mark Perez  administers the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to a Master Laborer Contractor employed onboard Naval Air Facility Atsugi June 18.

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Mark Perez administers the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to a Master Laborer Contractor employed onboard Naval Air Facility Atsugi June 18. Mass Communication Specialist Rafael Avelar

Biden Administration Delays Contractor Vaccine Mandate Until Jan. 4

Defense firms had warned of layoffs and weapons-manufacturing delays.

Updated, 10:41 a.m. to add comments by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.

The Biden administration is pushing the COVID-19 vaccination deadline for federal contractors from Dec. 8 to Jan. 4, a move that could prevent thousands of employees from losing their jobs amid the holiday season.

The delay comes as companies have spent the past two weeks warning they might have to let go of thousands of workers who refuse to get vaccinated, further delaying weapons manufacturing already slowed by supply chain woes. 

The new contractor vaccination deadline is the same day as new federal vaccination rules for all businesses with more than 100 employees goes into effect, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in advance of Thursday’s announcement. Unlike the federal contractor mandate, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules for all companies require vaccination or weekly testing.

Previous White House guidance said all contractors had to be vaccinated by Dec. 8. The only way for a worker to comply with that date is to receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine by Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving. Wednesday was the last day to get the Pfizer vaccine which requires two-does and a total of five weeks before a person is considered fully vaccinated. The deadline to receive the two-dose Moderna shot was last week since it requires six total weeks to reach full vaccination.

The new guidance announced Thursday says contractors must receive the final dose of a vaccine by Jan. 4, the senior administration official said.

There have been vaccine mandate protests at defense factories across the United States, in recent days. Some companies are reporting an uptick in worker vaccination levels, but are also asking for flexibility since no firms expect to reach 100 percent.

About 77 percent of workers at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, are “fully or partially vaccinated,” according to a post on the company’s official smartphone app. That’s up from about half of the workers at the site, which builds Navy destroyers and other large warships, as of last week, industry sources said.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said he is not concerned the delayed mandate is a major issue for the shipyards.

“I think this is something that we'll be able to very effectively work through. It's a little bit more complicated, obviously in the private sector for our contractors and our shipyards, but I think that they're really making great attempts to try to educate their workforce that it just simply makes sense to get vaccinated. It's a matter of health security for themselves, and the health security of our own Department of the Navy workforce as well too,” Del Toro said Thursday during the 2021 Aspen Security Forum in Washington, D.C.

Leidos, a technology company of about 43,000, says its employee vaccination rate is in the “mid-90s” percentile, CEO Roger Krone said Tuesday on quarterly earnings call. 

“We worry about a small percentage number of people who won't apply for an exemption [and] won't get vaccinated,” Krone said. “We think that number is in the single-digit percentages.”

Krone, like other defense CEOs last week, warned that losing workers who refuse vaccination could lower the company’s revenue projections.

“It is unlikely that we would involuntarily separate employees early, but there is a possibility that at some point, we're going to have to lay off some people because they don't get vaccinated,” he said. “We don't want to do that and we're working with the legislators and with the White House on a sensible implementation of executive order.”

White House officials held a call with contractors earlier in the week after posting updated implementation guidelines, which appear to give companies more flexibility, industry sources said.

Still, Republican lawmakers have warned disruptions to weapons manufacturing could decrease military readiness. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said the Pentagon has not responded to his questions about the readiness impact.

“We are searching for an alternative to how we can correct this disaster our military and states are facing,” he said.

Wall Street is warning about workforce disruptions too.

“We see the potential for this declaration to bring about risk to the aerospace recovery for OEMs,” Morgan Stanley analyst Kristine Liwag wrote in a note to investors last week. “We’ve heard management commentary which puts labor on the forefront of an aerospace recovery as OEMs will need to hire back or find new employees to make up for the lost labor throughout the Covid-19 pandemic."


Don't miss:

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.