Mandatory COVID-19 vaccines inevitable
The Department of Defense now requires all active U.S. military personnel to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and its variants, and the requirement applies as well to all private sector businesses that have defense contracts - including U.S.-flag merchant ship operating companies - and all of these contractors' employees.
Mandatory vaccination of the military was outlined in an August 9 "Message to the Force" from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after consultation with "the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretaries of the Military Departments, the Service Chiefs and medical professionals."
In this message, Secretary Austin said the vaccination requirement and procedures "apply to those of you in uniform and as well as our civilian and contractor personnel."
Austin said the vaccine policy would be in place "no later than mid-September" or upon Food and Drug Administration approval of vaccines already in use.
The FDA on August 23 approved the two-dose Pfizer vaccine, prompting the President in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to direct the Defense Department to have the policy in place by October 1 at the latest.
According to the Pentagon, approximately half of all service men and women - excluding National Guard and military reserve personnel - are already vaccinated. The Navy has the highest vaccination rate - 76 percent, a result of a major COVID-19 outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in March 2020, shortly after the national health emergency was declared.
Meanwhile, U.S. merchant shipping companies are moving routinely toward mandatory vaccination for all vessel officers and crewmembers.
In a recent arbitration decision ending a dispute between the Seafarers International Union and several of these U.S.-flag companies over mandatory vaccination, the SIU was directed to accept the requirement, despite the union's objection to the vaccine mandate.
The arbitrator instructed the union and the companies - represented collectively as the American Maritime Association - to negotiate procedures for complying with the decision.
These procedures were detailed in an August 17 Memorandum of Understanding between the SIU and the AMA, including the requirement that "all crew joining a vessel, regardless of job status (permanent, trip tour, rotary or trip relief) on and after October 1, 2021, must provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccine."
The MOU specified the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and the single inoculation Johnson and Johnson dose as "acceptable."
Unvaccinated SIU members working at sea on October 1 would be permitted to complete their assignments, but each would have to consent to subsequent vaccination in a U.S. port. Union members who do not consent to the postponed vaccination will be relieved, and "their employment will end," the MOU said.
In a crewing emergency, the SIU and the employers "may agree to allow unvaccinated mariners to join a vessel," but "reasonable efforts will then be made to secure vaccine for such mariners as soon as possible," and these mariners would be required to observe COVID-19 health and safety protocols - including testing, social distancing, restriction of movement aboard ship and restriction to ship in port.
The SIU-AMA Memorandum of Understanding provides for medical and religious exemptions to the vaccine requirement under specific circumstances, and it requires that all union personnel boarding ships on routine business be "fully vaccinated."
The employers represented by the AMA are Crowley Maritime Corp., Horizon Lines LLC, Crowley's Intrepid Personnel and Provisioning, Maersk Lines Ltd., North Star Shipping Corp., OSG Ship Management, Alaska Tanker Company LLC, Sunrise Operations LLC and TOTE Services.
In related developments, Chevron Corp. reported it now requires COVID-19 vaccinations for all officers and crews on its U.S.-flag vessels and will join Hess Oil in requiring vaccinations for all employees on their Gulf of Mexico installations beginning November 1, Valero Energy Corp. said it now requires vaccinations for all employees at its refineries in Texas and Louisiana and Maine Maritime Academy announced vaccination requirements for all students and campus personnel by October 1.