Delta CEO: Airline Doesn’t Have Plans Mandating Vaccines on Passengers

Vaccine passport is a hot topic worldwide. But for Delta passengers, they won’t have to worry about having their vaccination card with them. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said that the airline is not going to plan on mandating vaccines on their passengers.

Delta announced that it is not going to require passengers to show proof of vaccination when they fly within the US. Bastian cited the challenges of mandating vaccines. For instance, there is still the issue of full authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. Plus, the CEO also mentioned that the existing safety protocols have been effective in preventing COVID infections onboard airplanes.

Mandating Vaccines on Emergency Authorization

He said that “It’s very difficult for us to come in and mandate a vaccine that isn’t even federally approved yet, the authorization hasn’t been final yet”. Pfizer, Moderna, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines are still on emergency authorization.

On the other hand, vaccination requirement is different for employees as the airline tries to meet the recent surge in travel demand.  Delta Airlines will only hire fully vaccinated individuals. On top of that, most of Delta’s employees received complete doses of the COVID19 vaccine. Bastian said that “Over 73% of our staff are fully vaccinated”.

Stay Tuned

Does it mean that passengers will not have to show proof of their vaccination status for good? This might not be the case. Bastian’s final remark, “stay tuned”, is possibly a hint that the airline is still waiting for updates. There could still be a chance that Delta is going to start mandating vaccines on passengers. This could happen once vaccines achieve full approval from the US FDA.

In most cases, international flights will require testing and proof of vaccination to skip quarantine. Also, some businesses are starting to require vaccinations. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday that some venues including gyms and restaurants will now require proof of vaccination.

Juliette Kayyem who used to work as a former assistant secretary of Homeland Security for intergovernmental affairs during Obama’s administration calls for unvaccinated to be on the “no-fly list”.