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It’s been less than two weeks since President Joe Biden said the federal government would throw its weight behind new Covid-19 vaccine and testing mandates for corporate America. And there are already signs of progress.
Last week, Biden hosted some of the country’s top business leaders at the White House to discuss the push. Afterward, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Raytheon Technologies Corp said all their employees in the US — about 250,000 and 130,000 workers, respectively — would have to get vaccinated. (Walgreens, like some of its corporate counterparts, is allowing workers to enroll in a testing program if they choose not to get a jab.)
Other companies instituted stricter vaccine guidelines even before Biden said the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration would craft the new workplace safety rules, which will require vaccinations or weekly testing for companies with 100 or more employees.
Delta Air Lines Inc imposed a $200 monthly health-plan surcharge for its unvaccinated employees, prompting about a fifth of them to get a shot. The move led few Delta workers to quit, a rebuke to naysayers who have said tougher corporate vaccine requirements would spark worker revolts. United Airlines Inc, the first airline company to mandate vaccinations, gave its 67,000 employees until September 27 to get shots, after which they’ll be fired. The airline said employees granted religious exemptions and the like will be placed on unpaid, temporary leave on October 2. Southwest Airlines Co, which doesn’t have a mandate, is offering 16 hours of extra pay to workers who get vaccinated. Vanguard Group Inc and Whirlpool Corp, also mandate-less, give their employees $1,000 to get jabbed.
The stakes in this battle are obvious. The US has been in a footrace against Covid-19, which has taken advantage of unvaccinated Americans to become a persistent danger. If private employers mandate vaccines, that might help shift the national response into overdrive and let us catch up.
—Bloomberg