Why Many Employers Want to Make COVID-19 Vaccines Mandatory

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Experts say mandatory COVID-19 vaccination ensures workers remain safe and healthy. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
  • A number of companies are moving toward making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory as a prerequisite for in-person work.
  • Experts say the requirement helps ensure workers remain safe and healthy.
  • Experts also note that if a significant percentage of employees are reluctant to get the vaccine, it may be better to encourage the inoculation rather than require it.

Both COVID-19 vaccines now offered in the United States are effective and safe for most people, with public health officials urging people to get vaccinated as quickly as possible to bring an end to the pandemic.

But electing to receive the vaccine is ultimately still a matter of personal choice.

That is, perhaps, unless your employer decides otherwise.

For instance, on Jan. 21, United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said he favored requiring all employees who work for the company to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

“I recognize it’s controversial, [but] I think the right thing to do is for United Airlines and for other companies to require the vaccines and to make them mandatory,” Kirby said, according to a CNBC report.

With a few exceptions, such vaccine mandates would be legal, most experts agree, but questions remain about the practicality of such mandates.

Source: healthline