The Trump administration is putting the final nail in the coffin of a Biden-era policy, directing federal agencies to scrub employees’ records of their COVID-19 vaccine status, according to a memo exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is expected to send a memo Friday instructing agencies to wipe federal worker’s files of their COVID-vaccine status, including their non-compliance with previous vaccine mandates, or any exemption requests, the Caller first learned. The agency is also officially instructing federal branches to stop considering employees’ COVID-19 vaccine status in the hiring process, the memo states. (RELATED: Trump Admin’s Latest Addition Wants To Keep DOGE Alive — Here’s How)
“Things got out of hand during the pandemic, and federal workers were fired, punished, or sidelined for simply making a personal medical decision. That should never have happened,” OPM Director Scott Kupor told the Caller in a statement. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we’re making sure the excesses of that era do not have lingering effects on federal workers.”
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about the authorization of the Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus on November 03, 2021 in Washington, DC. The CDC authorization means up to 28 million more American children will now be eligible for the vaccine. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The memo comes after a nonprofit, Feds For Freedom, announced Wednesday it reached a settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ), requiring the OPM to direct federal agencies to clear employees’ record of their COVID-19 status. Feds for Freedom, which has approximately 9,000 federal employees, filed a lawsuit in December 2021 over the Biden order requiring such information from federal workers. They succeeded in obtaining an injunction in 2022, which temporarily paused the federal government’s mandate. Former President Joe Biden formally revoked the mandate in May 2023.
Biden signed an executive order shortly after taking office in 2021 directing federal agencies to require the COVID-19 vaccine for workers. After the order was rescinded, OPM issued a memorandum for Human Resources Directors, writing that “agencies should review their job postings… to ensure that none list compliance with the now-revoked Executive Order 14043 as a qualification requirement,” the memo stated. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: ‘People Were Angry’: Inside One Biden Admin COVID Decree That Upended Countless Careers)
“OPM now reiterates and expands upon that previous guidance. Effective immediately, federal agencies may not use an individual’s COVID-19 vaccine status, history of noncompliance with prior COVID-19 vaccine mandates, or requests for exemptions from such mandates in any employment-related decisions, including but not limited to hiring, promotion, discipline, or termination,” the memo obtained by the Caller reads.
