A new vaccine mandate from the White House will force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s federal workforce to get the jab, while the agency says the majority of its staff are still working from home.
The Joe Biden administration’s Thursday evening executive order directed federal agencies like NRC to develop a “program to require COVID-19 vaccination for all of its Federal employees, with exceptions only as required by law.” The White House’s Safer Federal Workforce task force should release guidance on setting up vaccination programs within the next week, the order said.
A separate executive order Thursday directed agencies to ensure that federal contractors under their supervision “comply with all guidance for contractor or subcontractor workplace locations published by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force.” The task force’s guidance will apply to contractors if the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) determines that it “promote[s] economy and efficiency in Federal contracting,” the order said.
NRC is still collecting data on how much of its workforce has already gotten the jab, a spokesperson for the agency told RadWaste Monitor via email Wednesday. Early reports indicate a “high level” of agency employees have been vaccinated, the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the agency is following the Office of Management and Budget and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines for managing the pandemic, the spokesperson said.
“While most of our employees remain on maximum telework, any employee currently entering an NRC facility is required to be masked and to wear the mask as outlined in the CDC guidance,” the spokesperson said. The commission is still taking other precautions like regular sanitization and social distancing in agency buildings.
NRC is enforcing these guidelines at its Rockville, Md. headquarters as well as its training centers and all four of its regional offices, “in particular [in] high transmission areas,” the spokesperson said.
“The safety of our employees and our contractors is our priority in establishing COVID-19 workforce policies in any NRC facility, now and upon re-entry,” the spokesperson said.
