Federal workers could face 5 years in prison if they lie about being vaccinated against COVID-19: report

• The federal government will require employees to sign forms declaring they are vaccinated against COVID.

• If employees do not get vaccinated, they will have to mask themselves, undergo weekly tests and be banned from travel.

• Lying on an attestation form in the event of a violation of federal law that could result in 5 years in prison.

• See more stories on the Insider business page.

The federal government will require federal employees to sign attestation forms declaring they are vaccinated against COVID-19, officials told The Daily Beast. Knowingly lying on this kind of form is a violation of federal law, which can result in 5 years in prison and a ban from serving in the federal government.

“You have to sign an attestation form, and lying to the federal government is like perjury,” an anonymous White House official told The Daily Beast.

Biden announced on August 3 that the federal employee would be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine or be subject to weekly testing, a mask requirement, and would be banned from traveling for work.

The government is still in the process of determining exactly how the mandate will be deployed to more than 2 million employees in various federal agencies. “There are millions of employees and it’s been four days,” said the White House official. Other officials said they are still awaiting an official White House timeline and process.

The process envisioned by the White House is similar to how the federal government has a long history of collecting information about its employees, where false statements on forms are a violation of federal law that can lead to termination.

The report also notes that the White House is still trying to determine how and whether to impose vaccines for the military. Active duty members cannot be required to obtain a vaccine that has not been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and the White House says it is awaiting a recommendation from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Currently, 64% of the nearly 1.4 million active-duty military personnel have been fully immunized.

Read the original article on Business Insider