Businesses in both the United Kingdom and the USA are grappling with whether to require their workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The issue is coming to a head in the UK, where vaccinations are well under way generally, CNN reports. The program is going so well that Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently revealed a schedule to remove most of the country from lockdown by summer – which will create additional pressure on businesses, especially public-facing ones.
A health care company and a plumbing maintenance firm both said they were seriously considering “no jab, no job” rules, but had not made a decision. Both said they would make exceptions for employees who had “good reasons” for declining the vaccine. The Confederation of British Industry, a union that claims to have almost 200,000 members, has come out against vaccine mandates.
In the U.S., 70% of CEOs polled by the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute said they would be open to vaccine mandates. The CEO of United Airlines said he was considering a mandate, but added that it wouldn’t be the first and only: “We need others to show some leadership.”
Legal experts told CNN that requiring vaccinations as a condition of employment probably would be legal. However, no food companies so far have come out for vaccine mandates. Several are either providing vaccinations on-site or paying employees to get vaccinated.
