NEW YORK – Companies that announced vaccine mandates say some workers who stood on the fence have since been vaccinated against COVID-19. But many objectors remain – a likely sign of what’s to come once a federal mandate comes into effect.
Before President Joe Biden announced on September 9 that companies with more than 100 workers would require vaccinations, dozens of companies, including Amtrak, Microsoft, United Airlines and Disney, issued ultimatums to most workers. And smaller companies in New York, San Francisco and New Orleans had to implement mandates for customers and employees.
Some mandates seem to have converted reluctant workers, but employers are still dealing with holdouts. United announced late Tuesday that it would lay off 593 employees over the next few days who had refused to be vaccinated. Other companies offer alternatives, including weekly testing or working remotely or without other employees.
The federal mandate will include up to 100 million Americans – private sector employees as well as healthcare workers and federal contractors. Increasing the vaccination rate in the United States is a risky presidential chess game. About 77 percent of American adults have received a dose of the vaccine, according to the CDC.
In August, San Francisco became the first major city in the country to require proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 for people who dine in restaurants, with staff having until October 13 to receive the vaccination. Akash Kapoor, founder of Indian restaurant chain Curry Up Now, said more than 90 percent of its employees at its downtown San Francisco location are now vaccinated, with one or two per store rejecting it. He has unvaccinated workers tested twice a week.
“This allows the vaccinated employees to feel safe,” he said.
Alejandra Segura, 28, a senior learning and development coordinator at Curry Up Now, said she was concerned about a bad reaction to the vaccine so she held back. But the vaccination mandate spurred her to action, and she received her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on September 20.
“It’s good that we need the vaccine to keep people safe,” said Segura.
“Experience shows that these mandates greatly affect employee willingness to be vaccinated,” said Laura Boudreau, Columbia University assistant professor who studies employment issues. She said she believes only a tiny fraction of the workforce will quit – likely those who are close to retirement and highly suspicious of vaccines.
The Biden government has announced that companies will face a $ 13,600 fine per violation and mandatory weekly testing will be the alternative to vaccination.
The question of whether employers or the state will pay for the mandatory tests has not yet been answered. In the next few weeks, regulations will be drawn up by the occupational health and safety administration, the agency responsible for executing the order.
Meanwhile, US COVID-19 Cases Soar The average seven-day COVID-19 deaths surged above 2,000 last week for the first time since March. And this week comes a series of state deadlines for vaccinating health care workers, raising fears that hospitals and nursing home staffing shortages will worsen if some choose to quit or be fired or suspended.
United Airlines officials say their mandate worked. About 96 percent of the airline’s 67,000 U.S. employees have been vaccinated and another 3 percent are requesting a waiver that could result in unpaid vacation. Less than 1 percent are laid off, which officials say would not affect flight operations.
Pilot unions at American and Southwest are asking the Biden government and Congress to have the option to conduct weekly tests or demonstrate immunity by previously contracting COVID-19. The president of the American Airlines union warned that “mass layoffs” of unvaccinated pilots during the December vacation could lead to a shortage of pilots. Neither American nor Southwest have said whether they need vaccination or offer testing as an alternative.
Delta Air Lines waived compulsory vaccinations, but said that starting November, unvaccinated workers on the company health insurance plan will pay a monthly premium of $ 200.
Delta’s Chief Health Officer, Dr. Henry Ting said about 20,000 employees weren’t vaccinated when the company announced plans for the surcharge. Last month, nearly 9,000 of them received at least one shot. About 82.5 percent of Delta’s 75,000 employees are fully vaccinated. Less than five workers have applied for a medical exemption and no one has applied for a religious one, Ting said.
“The first 20,000 were very eager, and we’ve got about 70 percent [vaccinated] pretty quickly, ”said Ting, but the remaining unvaccinated workers“ are a whole different group ”.
Ting said the holdouts are more likely to be black, brown, or younger than the first group. “A lot of them are not anti-Vaxxers,” he said. “They were on the fence, they are scared, they want to make their own decision on their own schedule.”
Some other big companies that have announced rules requiring office workers to be vaccinated now or in the coming weeks include Google, McDonald’s (office workers in the US), Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs, among others.
Amtrak last week postponed the vaccination deadline for all workers by three weeks to November 22nd. Currently, around 60 percent of workers have received at least one vaccination.
Meat packaging giant Tyson Foods, whose workforce has been badly hit by the coronavirus, is demanding that all of its employees be vaccinated by November 1st. About 80% of Tyson’s more than 100,000 employees have received at least one dose of the vaccine, up from 50% when they announced the mandate on Aug. 3.
The company has introduced incentives for workers to receive the vaccine. The poultry division runs a $ 10,000-a-week lottery for workers who have received at least one dose of the vaccine once a week for five weeks.
New York began enforcing a vaccine mandate for certain companies on September 13th. Art Depol said about 16 of its 24 employees at Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes in Times Square had already been vaccinated, three were given the vaccine when it was needed and five were denied.
Depol is working to set up weekly tests for the unvaccinated workers so he can keep them on schedule.
“It’s so difficult to find good people right now, I don’t want to lose the good people I have because of that.”
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