NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — In a brief message Friday, the president and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries — which operates Newport News Shipbuilding — said all employees of federal contractors will soon need to be vaccinated.
The message from President and CEO Mike Petters said by Dec. 8, 2021, employees of federal contractors, which includes HII, must be fully vaccinated.
The mandate requires private employers with 100 or more employees to require COVID-19 vaccines or weekly testing. It also requires all federal executive branch workers to be vaccinated.
On Friday, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force issued guidance on how federal contractors should comply with President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate, which was issued Sept. 9, 2021.
Petters said Huntington Ingalls is still assessing and evaluating the details of the new mandate.
“While Huntington Ingalls Industries is a publicly traded company, we are a federal contractor because we provide services to our military and government customers through federal contracts. For that reason, we are bound by any regulations, policies and contractual provisions that apply to all federal contractors,” Petters wrote in the message Friday.
He continued: “We will continue to help our unvaccinated employees meet this requirement as safely and efficiently as possible, and continue to share details and guidance as they become available.”
Click here to read the full message.
Newport News Shipbuilding released a statement the day after Biden issued the mandate.
At the time, President Jennifer Boykin said the shipyard was developing a vaccination mandate plan that will “meet the government’s requirements and keep safety at the forefront.”
However, some shipyard employees spoke out on social media, saying they would not comply.
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