COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate Issued By Secretary Of Defense For All Civilian Employees

WASHINGTON, DC — All civilian Defense Department employees are now required to be vaccinated for COVID-19, according to a new order signed by the Secretary of Defense. The deadline for DoD employees to be fully vaccinated is Nov. 22.

Back on Aug. 9, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a COVID-19 vaccination requirement for all uniformed service members in his department. In addition, President Biden implemented one on Sept. 9 for all federal employees, in order to ensure the health of the federal workforce and those who interact with them.

The new mandate applies to all civilian employees of the Defense Department, except those who have an exemption. The Pentagon will release guidance later on how DoD civilian employees can file for an exemption.

To be considered fully vaccinated, employees must have received a dose of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine or the second dose of the Comimaty/Pfizer-BioNTech or Modema vaccines two weeks prior to the Nov. 22 deadline.

In order to meet this deadline, DoD offered the following timeline in its announcement on Monday:

• Oct. 11: first dose deadline (if receiving the Modema vaccine);
• Oct. 18: first dose deadline (if receiving the Comimaty/Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine);
• Nov. 8: second dose deadline (if receiving the Modema and Comimaty/PfizerBioNTech vaccines); and
• Nov. 8: first (only) dose deadline (if receiving the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine).

Employees may also meet the mandate if they have been administered the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, which the World Health Organization has listed for emergency use, or received a clinical trial vaccine with a proven efficacy, such as Novavax.

People who have had the COVID-19 infection or previous serology are not exempt under this order.

Defense Department employees are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at any DoD vaccination site, including military medical centers. They are also free to visit civilian medical clinics to receive the vaccine. All employees should be prepared to provide a copy of their vaccination certificate.

New Defense Department employees are required to be fully vaccinated by their start date or Nov. 22, whichever is later.