 Aug. 23, 2021
Today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced final approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for individuals age 16 and older. The vaccine continues to be available under emergency use authorization for individuals 12 through 15 years old and for a third dose in certain immunocompromised individuals.
Under the Governor’s Executive Order 21-29, current employees and new hires do not have to show proof they are fully vaccinated or proof of an exemption until Oct. 18, 2021 or six weeks after FDA approval, whichever is later. Now that the Pfizer vaccine has full approval, final deadlines will be set for state employees to be fully vaccinated. This is what we know today:
- Oct. 18 will be the deadline for all executive branch employees to be fully vaccinated.
- All management services and unrepresented employees must be vaccinated by Oct. 18.
- There is a demand to bargain over the impact of the Executive Order to represented employees. The earliest full vaccination would be required for represented staff is Oct. 18.
Reminder about employee verification and exemption requests
Please note, current employees should not send their vaccine verification or exemption requests to Human Resources (HR) yet. The process to verify current employee vaccine status and religious or medical exemptions is in development. We will share that information with you as soon as possible.
People are considered fully vaccinated
- Two weeks after their second shot in a two-dose series, like the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or
- Two weeks after a single-shot vaccine, like Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine
Go to the Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 Vaccine website for information on how to get a vaccine and vaccine safety.
Webinars for all employees were held Aug. 19 and 20, 2021 with Oregon Department of Human Services leaders and Oregon Health Authority Senior Health Advisor to answer questions about Governor Kate Brown’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state employees. The sessions were recorded and are available on the Pandemic Guidance OWL page.
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