*** The White House released agency data on federal employee vaccination rates on Wednesday. Most agencies have vaccination rates of at least 90%, with a few in the high eighties. Relatively few feds are out of compliance – meaning they have either been vaccinated or requested an exception on health or religious grounds. Ninety-two percent of feds have had at least one vaccine dose, as of Tuesday, Nov. 23. Another 4.5% of feds have either pending or approved exception requests. Agencies will have to continue processing those. They’ll also be able to start the enforcement process for anyone not in compliance, which starts with education and counseling.
In the release of the data, the administration stressed that “this week’s deadline wasn’t an end point,” and that “this next stage of the process will not result in disruptions to government services and operations and will result in more employees becoming vaccinated.”
*** The National Institutes of Health will have to change some requirements in the potential $50 billion CIO-SP4 IT products and services contract after a Government Accountability Office ruling against how the agency treated mentor-protege joint ventures. Get more on this story from Washington Technology.