OMB Contends Vaccine Mandate Injunction Costs Up to $5 Million a Week
The White House submitted estimates regarding the cost of testing in the absence of a vaccine requirement to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas—the court that issued an injunction on the White House’s vaccine mandate for federal employees.
According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the federal government will incur an average of $5 million each week in extra testing costs while the injunction on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate remains in place. The estimated total is the result of three separate occurrences that would require a federal employee to test for COVID-19.
First, updated guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force explains a vaccinated federal employee may need an agency-provided test if they have close contact with an individual who has probable or confirmed COVID-19, among other reasons.
Next, newly hired federal employees are no longer required to comply with the vaccine mandate, so as potentially unvaccinated employees enter the workforce, the burden on testing programs will increase. Testing costs will likely rise as a result. On average, the government hires more than 20,000 new employees each month.
“The longer these individuals remain unvaccinated and employed in federal agencies, the more taxpayers’ costs will increase,” stated Jason Miller, the OMB’s Deputy Director for Management. “In sum, each day that the vaccination requirement for federal employees is delayed requires agencies that provide critical support for U.S. foreign policy, global financial systems, American infrastructure, and the pandemic response to devote additional time and resources to ensuring the safety of the federal workforce above and beyond the substantial time and resources already devoted to these efforts."
Finally, the White House estimates that weekly testing unvaccinated federal employees will cost between $1.4 million and $2.7 million. Federal officials say agencies are scrambling to come up with fresh plans for dealing with the tens of thousands of employees who may remain unvaccinated under a federal injunction. As FEDmanager reported previously, only 2 percent of federal employees had not received vaccinations when a judge imposed an injunction on the mandate last month.
In addition to appealing the ruling to the Fifth Circuit, the Biden administration has requested that while that case is pending, the district court stay its injunction.
