VA Records Uptick in Staff Vaccinations Following Expanded Order

The Veterans Affairs Department recently extended its mandate to require essentially all Veterans Health Administration employees, volunteers or contractors who enter its facilities or provide care in some capacity to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

In an internal email to every agency inbox on August 12, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said Hybrid Title 38, and Title 5 VA staff—such as psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, nursing assistants, physical and respiratory therapists, peer specialists, medical support assistants, engineers, housekeepers, volunteers, contractors and other clinical, administrative and infrastructure support employees—would have eight weeks to become fully vaccinated. 

After getting the shots and providing proof to their local VHA Occupational Health Office, those officials would receive four hours of paid administrative leave.

“We’ve already lost thousands of veterans and hundreds of colleagues to this deadly disease, and now, the Delta variant is causing exponential increases in infections, hospitalizations and deaths once again,” McDonough wrote. In the email viewed by Nextgov, the secretary added, “the bottom line is any unvaccinated employees who interact with veterans right now are putting those veterans at risk—and that’s a risk we simply cannot take.”

With help from technology, VA has a view into whether this policy implementation is resulting in potentially more shots-in-arms. 

“Compared to the previous week’s 7-day average, we are seeing a 3% increase in employee vaccinations,” VHA’s Media Relations Director Alan Greilsamer told Nextgov on Thursday.

The secretary’s direction aligns with President Joe Biden’s recent call for all federal employees to attest to their vaccination status or mask, physically distance, undergo testing and be subject to travel restrictions. VA’s leadership team coordinated with the administration to issue VHA Directive 1193, which mandated Title 38 health care personnel to be vaccinated for COVID-19, unless they’re exempt for medical or religious reasons. Now, that policy has been recertified to broaden who is included, by applying the mandate to even more VHA officials. 

“Effectively, this means that all VHA health care personnel who work in or visit VHA facilities and have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials are mandated to receive the vaccine or a qualifying exemption,” Greilsamer explained.

Since COVID-19 vaccinations for health care personnel have been available, VA’s entered records of those who get them into the Occupational Health Recordkeeping System, or OHRS 2.0. The platform is used to document compliance with VHA Directive 1193 requirements, which cover the nearly 360,000 VHA employees that serve as health care personnel, in addition to volunteers, trainees and contractors. 

“The OHRS 2.0 Team compiled requirements, developed an avenue to document vaccinations, medical exemptions, religious exemptions, additional doses, and reports for compliance, to meet the rapidly changing vaccination needs of the pandemic,” Greilsamer noted.

Medical experts, including from leading infectious diseases societies have formally recommended that COVID-19 vaccinations should be a condition of employment for all working in health care. Still, some VA employees have expressed apprehension on this—with multiple even going so far as saying they considered leaving their roles over the agency’s initial vaccine mandate. 

This week, the administration clarified that agencies can pursue disciplinary action against unvaccinated employees who refuse COVID-19 testing as laid out in its mandate.

“Secretary McDonough wants to do everything in his power to protect every veteran, their family, and caregiver who enters a VA facility or medical center from this deadly virus,” Greilsamer said. “VA understands the best way to do this is to get vaccinated.”