In a cyberFEDS® article published on August 9, 2021, KCNF partner George M. Chuzi spoke with Legal Editor Anjali Patel, Esq. about the new Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidelines for collecting vaccination status information. According to Chuzi, the new guidance, “highlights the problem created by the federal government’s failure to provide a uniform and secure means of documenting that a person has been fully vaccinated. While virtually everyone who has been vaccinated has received a CDC card reflecting the particular vaccine and dates of administration, apparently those cards can be easily forged, rendering them unreliable as evidence.”
While agencies ask employees to certify their status under penalty of perjury, relying on the honor system may not be enough. As Chuzi stated, “It remains to be seen whether this system will be sufficient.” Furthermore, he explains that parts of the guidance seem unnecessarily confusing, and points to how mask mandates in public indoor settings will be determined by the area’s transmission designation, which employees would be expected to know. To eliminate confusion, he says agencies, “should be required to indicate at the entrances to every building or facility whether that facility is in a high transmission area, or a low/moderate area. There is only one answer for each facility, and the responsibility for making that determination should not be left to the employees.”
To learn more about the Task Force’s guidelines for collecting and accessing vaccine status information and other issues related to managing accommodations and potential discipline, download the full article, “Task force outlines COVID attestation process.”