Northam requests federal support to vaccinate federal employees

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser jointly issued a request Wednesday for federal support with vaccinating essential federal employees against COVID-19, many of whom live in the greater D.C. area.

Northam, Hogan and Bowser sent a letter to the leaders of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency seeking a dedicated allocation of COVID vaccine doses for more than 30,000 regional federal employees identified as critical personnel.

“The District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia simply do not have the resources available to support these priority vaccinations, due to the additional burden on local resources that this mission would require,” the letter says.

The three officials also requested a “federally supported and operated vaccination site” for all essential federal workers, contractors and employees of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, as well as coordinated communication about vaccines for the approximately 281,000 federal employees who work in the region.

According to the letter, some of the included employees and contractors work for the executive, legislative and judicial branches, the U.S. Postal Service and the Federal Reserve.

Last week, a group of congressional representatives from Virginia, Maryland and D.C., including U.S. Reps. Donald S. Beyer Jr., Gerald E. Connolly and Jennifer Wexton, all of whom represent Northern Virginia districts, wrote to the acting director of the federal Office of Personnel Management. They requested that federal employees be given the option of administrative leave so they can receive a COVID vaccine, having heard that some federal agencies are not allowing employees time off.

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