White House: 92% of fed workers under mandate are vaccinated

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for millions of federal workers seems to be working, with no apparent disruption to law enforcement, intelligence-gathering or holiday travel.

The White House says 92% of the 3.5 million federal workers covered by Biden’s mandate reported to the government that they are at least partially vaccinated.

According to data provided by the White House Wednesday, the highest number of partial vaccinations by the deadline was at the Agency for International Development, which had 97.8%, followed closely by the Department of Health and Human Services at 96.4% and State Department at 96.1%.

The department with the least number of partially vaccinated employees was the Agriculture Department, at 86.1%.

White House officials say the most important lesson for businesses from the federal experience is that once they take the first step toward requirements, their workers will follow.

Biden announced in September that all federal workers were required to undergo vaccination, with no test-out option, unless they secured an approved medical or religious exemption.