Federal workers could face 5 years in prison if they lie about being vaccinated against COVID-19: report
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- The federal government will require employees to sign forms declaring that they're vaccinated against COVID.
- If employees don't get vaccinated, they will have to mask up, get weekly testing, and be banned from travel.
- Lying on an attestation form if a violation of federal law that can result in 5 years in prison.
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The federal government will require federal employees to sign attestation forms declaring that they are vaccinated against COVID-19, officials told the Daily Beast. Knowingly lying on this kind of form is a violation of federal law, which can result in 5 years in prison and a ban on serving in the federal government.
"You have to sign an attestation form, and lying to the federal government, it's like perjury," an unnamed White House official told the Daily Beast.
Biden announced on August 3 that federal employee would be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or be subjected to weekly testing, a mask requirement, and be forbidden from traveling for work.
The government is still determining exactly how the mandate will be rolled out for over 2 million employees across a variety of federal agencies. "There's millions of employees and it's been four days," said the White House official. Other officials said they're still waiting for an official timeline and process from the White House.
The process envisioned by the White House is similar to how the federal government has long collected information on its employees, where false statements on forms are a violation of federal law that can result in termination of employment.
The report also noted that the White House is still trying to figure out how and whether to mandate vaccines for the military. Active duty service members can't be required to get a vaccine that hasn't been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and the White House says it's waiting for a recommendation from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
As of now, 64% of the nearly 1.4 million active duty service members of the military have been fully vaccinated.