Traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday may become chaotic this year, as about 40 percent of Transportation Safety Administration workers face potential termination for refusing to get the coronavirus vaccine.
The approximately 24,000 employees have until November 22 - the Monday before Thanksgiving - to get the shot or risk being fired under President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for all federal workers.
'We have about 60 percent of our workforce has been vaccinated,' TSA Administrator David Pekoske told CNN on Wednesday. 'That number needs to go up quite a bit higher over the next few weeks.'
But in order to meet the deadline, the last possible date for a TSA agent to get a Pfizer vaccine is October 18, and the last day to get the first dose of the Moderna vaccine already passed on October 11, as Pfizer requires a three-week waiting period between doses, and Moderna requires a four-week waiting time.
And the last possible date to get a single-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine is November 8 - two weeks before the deadline.
Anyone who has not begun a vaccine regimen by then could face disciplinary action as early as November 9, the Office of Personnel Management announced on October 1, noting that failure to comply with the federal mandate is an act of misconduct.
Approximately 24,000 TSA workers have until November 22 - the Monday before Thanksgiving - to get the COVID vaccine or risk being fired under President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for all federal workers
In order to meet the deadline, they have until October 18 to get their first Pfizer dose or November 8 to get a single Johnson and Johnson vaccine
The office recommended agencies begin to pursue 'progressive discipline' by November 9 for any employee who did not begin the vaccination process, according to Federal News Network.
An office official said 'agencies are encouraged to consider whether lesser disciplinary penalties are adequate, as an initial matter, to encourage an employee to be vaccinated, such as a short suspension of 14 days or less.'
If the unvaccinated federal worker demonstrates at any point during the suspension that they are taking steps to comply with the mandate, though, the OPM says agencies should effectively pause disciplinary action and give them a deadline for receiving a final dose and providing proof of vaccination.
Once they have provided that proof, agencies should stop the disciplinary process.
But if the temporary suspension does not compel the employee to get vaccinated, the OPM recommends agencies consider greater disciplinary measures - including termination.
The office pointed to Mazares v Department of Navy, in which the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the Navy's decision to fire two civilian employees who refused to get the anthrax vaccine before a deployment on a naval ship to Korea.
The court ruled at the time that the employees' termination was not excessive as they were fired because they failed to obey a direct order from a supervisor.
In the interview with CNN, Pekoske said he is 'very hopeful' that the agency's employees can meet the deadline, and there will not be worker shortages.
Still, he said: 'We are building contingency plans for if we do have some staffing shortages as a result of this, but I hope to avoid that.'
He said he has been holding employee town halls to encourage TSA workers to get the vaccine so they will not be fired.
In total, the agency reports, more than 10,000 employees have contracted the virus since the start of the pandemic, with 30 deaths associated with COVID.
There are now 335 employees currently on leave with the virus.
Nationwide, the CDC says the rate of transmission remains high, even as there were only 84,086 new cases reported nationwide on October 12, with 1,252 deaths.
About 65.6 percent of all Americans have had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine as of Wednesday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control, and 56.6 percent are fully vaccinated
TSA Administrator David Pekoske said he has been holding employee town halls to encourage TSA workers, like the screener seen here, to get the vaccine so they will not be fired
In total, the agency reports , more than 10,000 employees have contracted the virus since the start of the pandemic, with 30 deaths associated with COVID
Pekoske also said he has contingency plans in place to avoid long lines at the TSA screening checkpoints over the holiday season
Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly told CNBC on Tuesday he believes businesses should not impose COVID
