White House Says 4.4% of USDA Employees Didn't Comply with Biden Administration's Vaccine Mandate

Just days after the deadline for the Biden administration's vaccine mandate past, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released vaccination rates within all government agencies under the executive branch. The latest data shows USDA's vaccination rate is 86.1%, the lowest among the reported agencies. 

OMB shows the percentage of agency employees covered by at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, or have filed a vaccination exemption or extension, sits at 95.6%. While 4.4% didn't comply with the executive order, the data shows there are additional employees who didn't get the vaccine, but instead filed an exemption.

When you look at the percentage of agency employees who have actually received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, that number falls to 86.1%. The agencies that sit the closest to USDA's vaccination rate that includes both the vaccine and exemptions, include the Social Security Administration at 87.7% and the Department of Veteran Affairs sits at 87.8% of employees have either been vaccinated or have asked for an exemption to the mandate. 

The vaccine mandate has been a point of contention across the country since it was announced by the White House in September. As AgWeb reported in October, the mandate didn't just impact local Farm Service Agency (FSA) field staff, but all paid positions, including farmers who served on the county committee. That sparked concerns that FSA offices, many of which are already understaffed, would face even greater staffing shortages. 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was questioned on the vaccine mandate and the impact it could have on local FSA offices during a hearing in October. Vilsack insisted FSA offices would remain open and would not impact the service farmers and ranchers have grown accustomed to. 

“Well, there are provisions in the proposal for religious exemptions and for health exemptions, and so we will certainly respect those," Vilsack said during the hearing. "I would anticipate and expect we will do what we need to do to keep offices open at the end of the day. We don’t want to necessarily reduce the service to people who need the service. So, I don’t anticipate we’re actually going to see a significant number of closed offices that would significantly reduce our capacity to serve farmers and ranchers in your state and other states.”

While the OMB data shows 4.4% of USDA staff chose not to receive the vaccine or file an exemption, various FSA staff told Farm Journal that it's unclear the status of their exemption requests. One FSA employee said once employees filed an exemption and filled out a survey with their vaccine status or plans, most have not heard back on whether the exemption was approved or not. And those same employees told Farm Journal there was no clear definition as to what would be accepted as a religious or medical exemption. 

As it's "business as usual," for most FSA offices, the Nov. 22 deadline for when employees were supposed to be fully immunized has passed. But "fully immunized" was not part of OMB's numbers released last week. 

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, spoke to AgriTalk’s Chip Flory about the mandate this fall, as well as the strict Nov. 22 deadline. 

“Nov. 22, federal employees have to at that point be fully immunized,” Collins told Flory. “Which means they had to get started well before that to get the two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna or the one dose of J&J. I run an organization with 45,000 federal employees and contractors, and we’ve let them know it’s time to get started so by Nov. 22 you can show your evidence of full coverage.”

Data in October showed FSA employs 10,958 people nationwide. In 2018, that number was 11,360, or a 3.5% decrease in the number of FSA employees

According to POLITICO, USDA Communications Director Michael Amato said in an email, "Implementation of the [federal vaccine] requirement will not result in any disruptions to critical services that the American people depend on." POLTICO reports Amato said that they anticipate more employees will be vaccinated over time. 

Farm Journal has been asking USDA and FSA about the vaccine mandate and what it means for local FSA staff since late September, but the agency has yet to respond to that request.