USPS Not Covered by Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate: Spokesman

A woman unloads a USPS truck in Norfolk, Va., on Jan. 26, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

The United States Postal Service is not one of the agencies compelled to require COVID-19 vaccination under President Joe Biden’s new executive order, a spokesman said Friday.

“The COVID-19 vaccination requirements included in the White House executive order issued on September 9, 2021, for federal employees do not apply to the Postal Service,” a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, or USPS, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“Regarding other vaccination rules expected to be issued by the federal government, the Postal Service has no comment until those rules are issued and we have had a chance to review them,” he added.

Biden on Thursday ordered all federal employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine, with limited exceptions for approved medical or religious reasons.

“It is essential that Federal employees take all available steps to protect themselves and avoid spreading COVID-19 to their co-workers and members of the public,” Biden said in the order.

Biden said in remarks from Washington that the order would “require all executive branch federal employees to be vaccinated—all.”

An Executive Branch Agency as defined in 5 U.S. Code § 105 “means an Executive department, a Government corporation, and an independent establishment.”

The Postal Service is an independent agency of the Executive Branch. It was established in 2006, replacing the Cabinet-level U.S. Post Office Department. The head of the Postal Service is chosen by a nine-person Board of Governors; the board members are appointed by the president and require confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

Over 630,000 people work for the USPS.

The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

The union in a July statement responded to reports that the White House was mulling mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for federal workers.

“Maintaining the health and safety of our members is of paramount importance. While the APWU leadership continues to encourage postal workers to voluntarily get vaccinated, it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent,” the union said.

“Issues related to vaccinations and testing for COVID-19 in the workplace must be negotiated with the APWU. At this time the APWU opposes the mandating of COVID-19 vaccinations in relation to U.S. postal workers,” it added.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.