December 12, 2020
To: FAA Employees
Subject: FAA Safety-Sensitive Employees and the Pfizer Vaccine
The FAA encourages Americans to receive COVID-19 vaccinations as authorized by FDA. This policy announcement pertains to a specialized group of FAA-certificated professionals who perform safety-sensitive aviation duties.
The FAA has reviewed the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Pfizer for use by FAA-certificated pilots and air traffic controllers. While the Federal Air Surgeon believes the overall risk to aviation safety from this product is low, certain side effects of the vaccine could affect job performance for a short period after each dose.
Consequently, the agency will require affected aviation professionals to observe a waiting period of 48 hours following the administration of this vaccine. Because the Pfizer vaccine requires two doses 21 days apart for maximum effectiveness, this waiting period will apply after each dose.
The FAA expects no additional measures will be necessary after this initial window for side effects closes. However, because this is a novel vaccine, the FAA will continuously monitor the initial distribution in order to adjust these recommendations based on documented clinical results.
The FAA similarly applies brief waiting periods after administration of other vaccines, such as for tuberculosis and typhoid.
Some FAA employees may be included in the initial groups of recipients of vaccines for essential workers. This could vary from state to state, or from city to city, based on decisions by local officials who will manage the distribution. The FAA is working with its labor organizations to ensure that employees who may be eligible to receive the vaccine are able to do so as soon as feasible, while also ensuring that the FAA continues to deliver safe and efficient services to the traveling public.
We will provide additional details when available as we continue to work through this process.
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