Good morning,

To keep you informed about our ongoing efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, I wanted to share that USDA employees, contractors and visitors will soon receive a Certification of Vaccination form that will be distributed to all federal employees, contractors and visitors. By completing the form, individuals are asked to provide information about their vaccination status and sign an attestation confirming the truthfulness of their response. Employees who are not fully vaccinated or decline to respond must wear a mask, physically distance, comply with a weekly or twice-weekly screening test requirement for those onsite, and are subject to government-wide restrictions on official travel. These protocols are in line with the revised model safety principles from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention July 26, 2021, guidance.

The Certification of Vaccination form will come from your respective agency or staff office with additional information, so please keep an eye out for it.

We are currently updating USDA’s COVID Workplace Safety Plan, and additional information about the collection of vaccine status and the return to the physical workplace more generally are available in the online FAQs.

Thank you, as always, for your patience as we work to keep your health and safety, as well as that of your families, our customers and visitors, our top priority. Should you have any questions, please reach out to your pandemic coordinator.

Sincerely, 

Dr. Jewel Bronaugh
Deputy Secretary

*To the extent this policy may constitute a change in a condition of employment for bargaining unit employees, agencies/offices will implement it in accordance with the terms of their current labor agreement and 5 U.S.C. Chapter 71. If you are a bargaining unit employee and have questions regarding the content of this message and its potential impact on a current labor agreement, please refer them to your local union representative.

You can also view this message at OneUSDA (internal link).