It does apply, I am working with an exemption in place.
It’s all mixed up, confusing mess, but I can attest that myself, 2 family members who are also federal contractors, and one family member who is a federal employee are all unvaccinated and all remain employed without penalty…That could change at any time. It really sounds like your potential employer is going out on a limb telling you that the mandate is in force and that religious exemptions don’t as apply, but either way I guess if that’s what they say, that’s what it is.
With regards to your vaccine question, I was cautiously considering Novavax as the link to abortion is presented as by far the most remote to my understanding, but it seems that Novavax has a higher rate of myocarditis than any of the others, but more to my concern, there sadly is abortion-derived tissue used in testing. To my understanding, Moderna has a far closer link to abortion than they claim. J&Js ethical profile is abysmal.
My concerns are religious, although I’m not ignorant of the potential side effects as well. If I absolutely had to get any of the available vaccines, from both an ethical and safety perspective, Pfizer seems to be the middle ground. The abortion link to the Pfizer shot precludes me from getting it but you may feel differently.
If the spike proteins cause problems, I don’t think there’s anything you can do, no treatment, certainly not ivermectin, that will negate or reverse those problems. Most people who have had any variant of the shot are fine. Will they be in 10 years? Nobody can say.