Government Contractors (More Specifically VA) & Vaccine Mandates

Kountry Biscuit

Lil-Rokslider
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Does anyone currently have any experience with vaccine mandates and how it’s affecting contractors right now? I thought it was blocked, but the VA system we work for in south Texas is trying to enforce it. Any insight into how to fight this would be great.
 

FLATHEAD

WKR
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We (fed) had a video meeting yesterday and they were talking about the
religious exemptions again and how they were going to handle them (approve or disapprove)/
IMO it's null and void at this point after the SC ruling.
 

sndmn11

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Does anyone currently have any experience with vaccine mandates and how it’s affecting contractors right now? I thought it was blocked, but the VA system we work for in south Texas is trying to enforce it. Any insight into how to fight this would be great.

Is your VA system considered healthcare?

I believe the SCOTUS upheld a mandate for federally tied healthcare workers, but denied the all businesses one.
 
OP
Kountry Biscuit

Kountry Biscuit

Lil-Rokslider
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Is your VA system considered healthcare?

I believe the SCOTUS upheld a mandate for federally tied healthcare workers, but denied the all businesses one.
Well yes, thats what VA medical centers are, but the federal mandate for healthcare workers was issued by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. It applies to any facility that accepts those subsidies. The VA has nothing to do with Medicare and Medicaid...

The vaccine mandate for federal employees and federal contractors has an injunction in multiple courts across the U.S. It specifically states all contractors. I am just wondering how that's not applying to contractors doing work at a VA facility.
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
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Since the vaccines have already proven that they don't prevent the recipient from getting or spreading the virus, not sure how any mandate can fly these days......logically or constitutionally.

I know several folks that work for defense contractors, and they've all said that for now......they're just being told to wait and see.
 

Bluumoon

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Most of us in healthcare have to provide vaccine records going back to childhood in order to work in a hospital.....Hepatitis, MMR, yearly flu, etc. The new one on the list doesn't even register on my give a sh*t list, except for the two days I've felt like crap after the 2nd and booster. Except for the politics, I'm really not understanding why it does for anyone else either.
 
OP
Kountry Biscuit

Kountry Biscuit

Lil-Rokslider
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Since the vaccines have already proven that they don't prevent the recipient from getting or spreading the virus, not sure how any mandate can fly these days......logically or constitutionally.

I know several folks that work for defense contractors, and they've all said that for now......they're just being told to wait and see.
It defies all logic, but that's not how society operates any longer... Unfortunately, we have contracts that are ongoing and need workers onsite immediately and they will not badge you without the jab... It's like they're totally ignoring the court orders. I just want to know how to escalate it to someone who can enforce the order.
 
OP
Kountry Biscuit

Kountry Biscuit

Lil-Rokslider
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Most of us in healthcare have to provide vaccine records going back to childhood in order to work in a hospital.....Hepatitis, MMR, yearly flu, etc. The new one on the list doesn't even register on my give a sh*t list, except for the two days I've felt like crap after the 2nd and booster. Except for the politics, I'm really not understanding why it does for anyone else either.
Take a look around the world at places like Australia and Austria and tell me it doesn't matter... Tyranny is happening in those places and our leaders would do the same if they could. Fortunately, we still operate by the constitution in some regard. There comes a time when you draw a line in the sand and say do not cross it.
 

Bluumoon

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Take a look around the world at places like Australia and Austria and tell me it doesn't matter... Tyranny is happening in those places and our leaders would do the same if they could. Fortunately, we still operate by the constitution in some regard. There comes a time when you draw a line in the sand and say do not cross it.
I get the sentiment on a national mandate. However the OP specifically asked about VA healthcare facilities, where I can only assume they have been required to submit record of and maintain any number of other vaccines as we all do in healthcare. So from that standpoint I don't see the basis for complaining, we have the privilege of caring for people or working in facilities that do, being around sick people requires we decrease the risk on both sides of the equation.

I see it as much the same as requiring safety gear on a construction site. Don't want to wear a hard hat/steel toe boots, don't work on the site and don't complain when someone tells you you can't be there.

I'm also the guy saying trying to force all of our staff to wear N95s all the time is dumb af, so guess I'm also a hypocrite. This thing isn't going away and it's every where, why should I have to wear an N95 all day at work or for that matter, being vaccinated I don't see the point of masking in public anymore.
 

Wrench

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I get the sentiment on a national mandate. However the OP specifically asked about VA healthcare facilities, where I can only assume they have been required to submit record of and maintain any number of other vaccines as we all do in healthcare. So from that standpoint I don't see the basis for complaining, we have the privilege of caring for people or working in facilities that do, being around sick people requires we decrease the risk on both sides of the equation.

I see it as much the same as requiring safety gear on a construction site. Don't want to wear a hard hat/steel toe boots, don't work on the site and don't complain when someone tells you you can't be there.

I'm also the guy saying trying to force all of our staff to wear N95s all the time is dumb af, so guess I'm also a hypocrite. This thing isn't going away and it's every where, why should I have to wear an N95 all day at work or for that matter, being vaccinated I don't see the point of masking in public anymore.
How would you feel if you were told you could never....ever remove your hat and boots.....for the rest of your life?

Along your point, you wear PPE because it protects YOU. If YOU are worried about your inhalation risk, you would wear PPE.....assuming administrative and engineering controls were incapable of controlling the hazard.

Agree or no?
 
OP
Kountry Biscuit

Kountry Biscuit

Lil-Rokslider
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I get the sentiment on a national mandate. However the OP specifically asked about VA healthcare facilities, where I can only assume they have been required to submit record of and maintain any number of other vaccines as we all do in healthcare. So from that standpoint I don't see the basis for complaining, we have the privilege of caring for people or working in facilities that do, being around sick people requires we decrease the risk on both sides of the equation.

I see it as much the same as requiring safety gear on a construction site. Don't want to wear a hard hat/steel toe boots, don't work on the site and don't complain when someone tells you you can't be there.

I'm also the guy saying trying to force all of our staff to wear N95s all the time is dumb af, so guess I'm also a hypocrite. This thing isn't going away and it's every where, why should I have to wear an N95 all day at work or for that matter, being vaccinated I don't see the point of masking in public anymore.
I agree with you to some degree on requiring it if it truly acted as a vaccine and disallowed contraction. The vaccine no longer does and may not have in the earlier strains that well either. That is where you lose me on it being for protecting others... It should be a personal choice because you're just as likely to get it and pass it on with or without the vaccine. That has been proven everywhere now. It is also so politicized by the elites with bad facts that it just goes against everything so many people know it terms of just getting in line. Sorry that they have lost all credibility over the last few years. Its no longer about safety. That's where it gets me.
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
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It should be a personal choice because you're just as likely to get it and pass it on with or without the vaccine.
Yep, and there's some new studies out that have shown that a 4th shot actually decreases one's immunity. That's the problem with these shots.......nobody really knows what's going to happen a few years into this from the shots.......or additional shots every year or every few months. So given that 99.75% of the U.S. population and 99.93% of the world population has survived this pandemic over the past two years, it should be mighty hard to sell this vaccine to logical, reasoning, thinking folks......if they aren't high risk.
 

WCB

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being vaccinated I don't see the point of masking in public anymore.
UMMMM.... You do know vaccinated people can still get it and pass it on? Your vaccine does almost nothing to change that...and it MAY make your symptoms less than if you were unvaccinated but with the new variant that is hard to tell.

So tell me how, if you think that masks work or there is a reason for anyone to where a mask, would the vaccination change the need for a mask?

Also, welcome on board a vast majority of the country has realized there is no point of masking in public (not based off anything with the vaccine)
 
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Full disclosure: I'm vax'd w/no booster

The contract company I work for required a vaccination. No word yet on booster. There are a few contractors on different contracts who are not vax'd and they have get tested once a week.
 
OP
Kountry Biscuit

Kountry Biscuit

Lil-Rokslider
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Guys, I appreciate the opinions on the subject, but I just need help with my business and how to navigate these mandates as a contractor to the Veterans Affairs system. If you have experience with it please let me know. Thanks
 
OP
Kountry Biscuit

Kountry Biscuit

Lil-Rokslider
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Messages
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Full disclosure: I'm vax'd w/no booster

The contract company I work for required a vaccination. No word yet on booster. There are a few contractors on different contracts who are not vax'd and they have get tested once a week.
This is what I'm talking about. I think this vaccine or test mandate is blocked by the courts... How are these federal institutions not required to follow the order?
 
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