Editor’s note: The following release was authored by Steven L. Lieberman, M.D., who serves as the Deputy Under Secretary for Health, performing the delegable duties of the Under Secretary for Health, within the U.S. Veterans Health Administration.
The health and safety of Veterans and staff continue to be our highest priority during the pandemic. Despite use of highly protective masks, distancing, and other safety measures, we have been experiencing greater outbreaks of hospital-acquired infections in both our inpatient units and community living centers in association with the increased prevalence of the Omicron variant.
As future variants are expected to emerge, such as the recently appearing BA.2 variant of Omicron, we must do everything we can to protect the Veterans we serve and our co-workers in patient care positions. Recently confirmed by CDC medical studies, vaccination remains the best defense against COVID-19, including variants like Delta and Omicron.
As you know, VHA health care personnel are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Employees requesting an accommodation to being vaccinated against COVID-19 will have their request treated as a request for “reasonable accommodation” and reviewed accordingly.
During recent surges in COVID-19 cases from Delta and Omicron variants, VA paused the processing of reasonable accommodation requests to ensure Veterans could receive the care they needed with necessary staffing. Today, we are resuming the processing of COVID-19 vaccine reasonable accommodations requests with a focus on ensuring employees’ rights while optimizing Veteran care and safety.
We will process these requests in a timely manner, generally in the order they were received. Typically, the time frame for processing a request is 30 calendar days from the initiation of the review process by the management official or supervisor. Please note that an employee’s approved accommodation request may result in reassignment to areas within the VA where it is safe for unvaccinated staff to work.
VA has listed specific positions within VA Form 10230a (Undue Hardship Review) where the standard accommodation of masking, maintaining physical distance, testing, and following other required safety protocols is either not possible or does not sufficiently mitigate the safety risk posed to patients and/or other staff members. While we will try to accommodate approved reasonable accommodation reassignment, positions cannot be guaranteed.
We will continue to be transparent with staff and Veterans as reasonable accommodation requests are reviewed and processed. Management officials or supervisors will notify staff regarding whether reasonable accommodation requests are approved or denied, as well as potential next steps.
Thank you for everything you continue to do to serve Veterans and protect fellow team members through the pandemic.