More news relating to Taft’s recent update about the nationwide injunction on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate being partially overturned.

On Aug. 31, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force announced that the federal government would not seek to enforce any contract clauses implementing the contractor vaccine mandate called for in Executive Order 14042. The statement, published here, is as follows:

Regarding Applicable Court Orders and Injunctions: To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce Executive Order 14042. For existing contracts or contract-like instruments (hereinafter “contracts”) that contain a clause implementing requirements of Executive Order 14042, the Government will take no action to enforce the clause implementing requirements of Executive Order 14042, absent further written notice from the agency.

So, unless and until something changes, contractors should not anticipate any changes to the status quo, even if they are not in a state covered by the narrower injunction against enforcement.

Taft’s Government Contracts practice group will continue to monitor this situation for any developments.