{"id":42923,"date":"2021-11-29T20:20:55","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T20:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/11\/29\/va-has-the-second-worst-covid-vaccination-rate-among-all-federal-agencies\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:36:27","slug":"va-has-the-second-worst-covid-vaccination-rate-among-all-federal-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2021\/11\/29\/va-has-the-second-worst-covid-vaccination-rate-among-all-federal-agencies\/","title":{"rendered":"VA has the second-worst COVID vaccination rate among all federal agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Veterans Affairs workers<\/a> are among the least vaccinated against COVID-19 of all federal agencies<\/a>, despite most facing earlier deadlines to get protection against the ongoing global pandemic that has killed nearly 17,000 department patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Office of Management and Budget<\/a>, roughly 87.8 percent of the department\u2019s staff had received at least one dose of the vaccine regimen<\/a> as of last week. That translates into about 52,000 of the department\u2019s approximately 426,000 staffers lacking a vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of that group, about 42,000 have requested an exemption to the policy based on health or religious reasons. The rest have either refused to comply or declined to respond to repeated requests about their status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department\u2019s vaccinated percentage was below every other federal agency except the Department of Agriculture (86.1 percent). For comparison, the State Department\u2019s vaccination rate is more than 96 percent. Across all government agencies, the figure is 92 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\t