WASHINGTON -- A reported 20% of U.S. Border Patrol agents and employees have not complied with President Joe Biden's coronavirus vaccine mandate or have not requested an exemption from the requirement, according to internal data obtained by The Washington Post.
Of the agency's 21,393 employees, 77% were fully vaccinated as of Wednesday and 3% were partially vaccinated, the figures show. Another 15.5% of agents and employees have sought a religious or medical exemption, while 3.4% have not responded to the internal reporting requirement and 1.1% listed their status as unvaccinated, without seeking an exemption.
The roughly 4,000 Border Patrol agents and employees who remain unvaccinated could face disciplinary action if their exemption requests are denied or if they remain out of compliance with the president's requirement for all federal workers and contractors to be immunized by Nov. 22.
The Border Patrol appears to have one of the highest refusal rates among the federal workforce, but the share of employees getting shots or fulfilling notification requirements has risen rapidly over the past several days.
Nearly 30% of the agency's workers were at risk of noncompliance at the beginning of last week, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. The drop in that percentage over recent days suggests thousands of agents and employees waited until the last minute to get shots or report their status.
Luis Miranda, a spokesman for U.S. Customs, highlighted the workforce's compliance rates with notification requirements.
"With more than a week before the deadline to comply with the President's vaccine mandate, CBP has over 96% compliance with the vaccination reporting requirement and expects that rate to continue to rise as we approach the deadline," Miranda said in a statement.
Agency officials have attributed some of the delays to agents busy with patrol duties at a time of high migrant apprehensions levels, saying those employees may not be spending much time in front of computers and checking work email.
Border Patrol union officials have opposed and denounced Biden's mandate. They joined a group of Republican lawmakers who sent a letter to the White Hour earlier this month demanding Biden suspend the requirements for agents.
"This mandate is wholly incongruent with the principles of individual choice and medical freedom, puts families in our districts at risk of financial ruin, and threatens our national security by flooding our communities with undocumented, unvetted migrants," wrote the lawmakers in a letter, sponsored by Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.
Forty-nine agents, officers and other U.S. Customs employees have died from the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the agency's most recent data.
Most of the 2.1 million federal employees should have received their last dose of the vaccine no later than Nov. 8 to meet that deadline. In most cases, employees who fail to comply risk an escalating series of disciplinary actions that include suspensions and possible termination.
DEFIANCE IN OKLAHOMA
The Oklahoma National Guard has rejected the Defense Department's requirement for all service members to receive the coronavirus vaccine and will allow personnel to sidestep the policy with no repercussions, an order from the governor that could serve as a blueprint for other Republican-led states that have challenged Biden administration mandates.
Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino, appointed last week by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt as adjutant of the state's 10,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen, on Thursday notified those under his command that they are not required to receive the vaccine and won't be punished if they decline it.
It's an extraordinary refusal of Pentagon policy by the general and follows Stitt's written request to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin seeking suspension of the requirement for Guard personnel in the state.
"We will respond appropriately," John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson, said of Stitt's letter. "That said, Secretary Austin believes that a vaccinated force is a more ready force. That is why he has ordered mandatory vaccines for the total force, and that includes our National Guard, who contribute significantly to national missions at home and abroad."
The governor installed Mancino after having removed the state's prior adjutant, Maj. Gen. Michael C. Thompson, who has advocated for his troops to get vaccinated against the coronavirus and last month publicized having received a booster shot. Carly Atchison, a spokesperson for Stitt, said Thompson's departure was unrelated to his stance on vaccine policy and that the governor had explored a change over the past few months.
The new vaccine policy, distributed the day after Thompson was relieved of his leadership post, was directed by the governor, Atchison said.
Thompson did not respond to messages seeking comment. He told the New York Times that he believed his ouster was politically motivated.
"There's not another reason for it," the general said.
Oklahoma's objection to the Pentagon's directive would appear to open another pathway for states to challenge the president's orders.
Mancino's new policy walks a line between a state's military orders, in which the governor acts as commander in chief for operations such as disaster relief and federal military orders. Guard members carry out missions under the president's command.
For now, it appears that Oklahoma Guard members can refuse the vaccine, but that they would be subject to the requirement if they are put on active duty for a federally mandated assignment, such as an overseas deployment.
A spokesman for the National Guard Bureau, speaking to the Stars and Stripes newspaper, characterized the move as "a legal gray area" and suggested there would be a review.
A senior official in the Oklahoma National Guard, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter candidly, said that a recent survey of Guard members in the state showed that approximately 13% indicated they would not take the vaccine.
The official declined to address whether leadership of the Oklahoma National Guard was in step with Austin's belief that vaccination is imperative for military units to be ready for an emergency. The National Guard, like all of the military's active-duty components, requires personnel to be vaccinated against numerous other potential illnesses.
In most cases, deployments entail months of preparation, leaving ample time for those who aren't vaccinated now to be in compliance should they be called upon for assignments outside the state's borders, the official said. But the issue already has complicated deployments: The vaccination status of several rescue airmen posed challenges during the military's evacuation from Afghanistan in August, the Air Force has reported.
A spokesperson for the Oklahoma National Guard did not address how many of its members are vaccinated. Combined, the entire Army National Guard, which faces a June deadline to comply with the Pentagon's mandate, is about 46% fully vaccinated. The Air National Guard is about 80% vaccinated ahead of its Dec. 12 deadline.
The National Guard has absorbed a disproportionate share of the 75 deaths among military personnel infected with covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. National Guard members account for 28% of all covid-related deaths in the military, but they constitute only about 19% of the entire armed forces. The Army National Guard has the highest death toll across the services, according to Pentagon data.
Because the National Guard reports to state and federal officials, Naval War College professor Lindsay Cohn said Army or Air Force leadership in Washington could pursue administrative action against anyone who resists the federal mandate. A governor, she said, cannot stop senior service officials from discharging people.
Still, the situation puts the Defense Department "in the very awkward position of pitting themselves against the governor and the still-powerful narrative" that the National Guard primarily belongs to the states, she said.
Meanwhile, California is among three U.S. states now allowing coronavirus booster shots for all adults even though federal health officials recommend limiting doses to those considered most at risk.
BOOSTER-SHOT POLICIES
The nation's most populous state, along with Colorado and New Mexico, instituted their policies to try to head off a feared surge around the end-of-year holidays when more people are gathering inside.
Colorado and New Mexico have among the nation's highest rates of new infections, while California -- lowest in the nation earlier this fall -- now joins them in the "high" tier for transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order Friday expanding eligibility for covid-19 booster shots. Her state health department's acting secretary, Dr. David Scrase, said rising case numbers have some hospitals in New Mexico overwhelmed.
"Covid-19 is incredibly opportunistic and it's our job to ensure that the virus has fewer and fewer opportunities to spread," Scrase said. "If it's time for you to get a booster, please do so right away."
Biden's administration had sought approval for boosters for all adults, but U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers in September decided it isn't clear that young healthy people need another dose. They instead recommended boosters only for those over 65 and younger people with certain underlying health conditions or whose jobs are high risk for the virus.
In California, state Public Health Officer Tomas Aragon sent a letter to local health officials and providers saying they should "allow patients to self-determine their risk of exposure."
"Do not turn a patient away who is requesting a booster" if they are age 18 and up and it has been six months since they had their second Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or two months since their single Johnson & Johnson shot, he wrote.
He told pharmacies to prioritize boosters to those in skilled nursing or assisted living facilities due to waning immunity from the earlier shots. But generally, providers "should not miss any opportunity" to give vaccines to the unvaccinated or boosters to everyone else anytime they visit a drugstore, hospital or medical office.
Many states are now experiencing rising cases and more hospitalizations. Nationwide in the last week there were about 73,000 new cases daily, roughly 10,000 more than three weeks ago.
In Colorado, where some hospitals are stretched to the breaking point, Gov. Jared Polis signed Thursday an executive order to expand use of booster shots. A day later he had a dire warning for the roughly 20% of eligible people in his state who have yet to get a single dose.
"We wouldn't even be here talking about this if everyone was vaccinated," the Democratic governor said at a news conference. "If you are not vaccinated, you're going to get covid. Maybe this year, maybe next year."
Officials in Colorado, California and New Mexico said they have ample supplies of vaccines to provide initial vaccinations and boosters to all who want them.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that the Biden administration continues to advise health leaders across the country "to abide by public health guidelines coming from the federal government."
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly earlier in the week said California's decision doesn't conflict with federal guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was "very clear that they had two categories -- groups that should get a booster and groups that may." he said.
"We know that a number of Californians work in crowded public settings," Ghaly said. "Because of your work-related risk or even you live with people who have underlying conditions [and] are at higher risk themselves, or you're a member of a community that's been ravished and hard-hit by covid ... it's permissive by the CDC and the FDA to go ahead and get the booster."
Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a professor of epidemiology at University of California, San Francisco, said boosters have lagged. That's worrisome as winter approaches and the highly contagious delta variant, which caused a summer spike, continues to circulate.
The delta variant is "really good at finding people, including people who got vaccinated at the beginning of the year and now that vaccination is wearing off a little bit," she said. "Delta is a powerful force and everybody needs that third dose."
Information for this article was contributed by Nick Miroff, Alex Horton and Dan Lamothe of The Washington Post and by Don Thompson, Jim Anderson, Susan Montoya and Darlene Superville of The Associated Press.