President Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to Chicago on Thursday to highlight the vaccination efforts of US airlines. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a briefing on Monday said that “We’re seeing strong movement and early action toward vaccine requirements across industries and, importantly, in the airlines industry”.
Biden announced last month that federal employees, contractors, and businesses with more than 100 employees need to complete their COVID19 vaccination. Businesses with more than 100 employees can opt to do weekly tests for employees who won’t get the vaccine.
Major US airlines are taking the initiative to comply with the latest directive by the Biden administration. Major airlines fall under the federal contractor category since they provide services to government employees. For instance, US airlines offered emergency flights to bring Afghanistan evacuees to the US this summer.
Southwest announced on Monday that its 56,000 employees will have to get the COVID19 vaccine by December 8. There is no clear announcement of what will happen to Southwest’s unvaccinated employees after the deadline.
Last week, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and JetBlue Airways announced their vaccine requirement in compliance with the new federal rules. JetBlue announced to its staff that “regardless of working in the operation, support center, or at home—will be required by the government to be fully vaccinated for COVID19 to continue performing their role”
JetBlue’s COO Joanna Geraghty said that the “vast majority” of JetBlue’s employees already completed the doses of the COVID19 vaccine. However, JetBlue didn’t specify the exact percentage.
United announced mandatory vaccination earlier than other US airlines. Also, United Airlines already started firing some of its unvaccinated employees. Some United employees opted to apply for religious and medical exemptions. However, employees granted medical or religious exemptions from the vaccine will have to take mandatory unpaid leave.
United’s CEO Scott Kirby said that the strict policy of the carrier is all “about saving lives”. He added that “when I retire someday, hopefully long in the future, I will look back at this and it will be one of the proudest moments of my career that we’ve made the tough decision, but the right decision to require vaccines”.
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