Nearly a week after President Biden announced that the federal contractor vaccine mandate compliance deadline would be delayed to align with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services deadlines, on Nov. 10, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (the Task Force) issued new guidance.

The new guidance shifts the fully vaccinated deadline from Dec. 8, 2021, to Jan. 18, 2022. This is nearly a full six weeks of additional time for contractors to get their workforces into compliance with the mandate, and two weeks longer than suggested by the President's Nov. 5 remarks. Under the new guidance, the last dose of any vaccine must be received no later than Jan. 4, 2022.

In addition, the Task Force also provided its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on workplace signage, providing sample signs for high or substantial transmission areas and low or moderate transmission areas.

Taft's Government Contracts and Employment Law groups continue to monitor this situation for developments and will publish more information as it arises.

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