Governor Inslee has issued a vaccine mandate for state employees. The mandate applies to any person engaged to work as an on-site contractor for a state agency, an education facility or a healthcare facility. Contractors must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 unless they are exempted for medical or religious reasons. Guidance and resources can be found here: https://www.governor.wa.gov/VaccineMandateFAQ.
Contractors covered by the mandate include:
- State agencies: all contractors working on-site at executive cabinet agencies of the State of Washington if the work is required to be performed in-person and on-site, regardless of frequency, whether other workers are present, or any contingent nature of that requirement, including indoor or outdoor worksites.
- Medical facilities: work performed at a “healthcare setting” where patients receiving care are present. “Healthcare setting” is defined as any public or private setting that is primarily used for the delivery of in-person health care services to people. This includes portions of a multi-use facility, but only the areas that are primarily used for the delivery of health care, such as a pharmacy within a grocery store.
- Educational setting: In places where students or people receiving services are present.
Those not covered include:
- Workers who are present at a site for only a short period of time and have a fleeting physical presence with others. Examples include contractors delivering supplies by truck to a construction site where they remain physically distanced from others on the site, refuse pickup or a driver for a contracted shipping and delivery service briefly entering a site to pick up parcels for shipping.
- Recipients of funds distributed by an executive cabinet state agency, but where work is performed at a different physical location. Examples include vendors employed by local government who receive state funding, or subrecipients of the state operating independent offices.
- Work performed at a healthcare setting removed from patient care access. Examples include an entire closed wing with no medical services provided at the time of construction.
- Work performed at a school or institution of higher education in a location removed from student instruction or services.
Verification
The proclamation gives state agencies, education facility operators, and healthcare facility operators the ability to require contractors to assume responsibility for vaccine verification and accommodation requirements.
To verify vaccination status, contractors must obtain a copy of, or visually observe proof of, full vaccination against COVID-19 from employees and submit a signed declaration of compliance to the owner.
Proof includes:
- CDC COVID-19 vaccination record card or photo of the card;
- Documentation of vaccination from a healthcare provider or electronic health record;
- State immunization information system record; or
- For an individual who was vaccinated outside of the United States, a reasonable equivalent of any of the above.