According to a recent report in Axios, a number of large American firms have decided to reverse COVID-19 vaccination obligations and have kept quiet throughout the process.
Goldman Sachs lifted vaccination requirements in all but New York City this week, and JPMorgan & Chase Co. announced in March that it would resume hiring unvaccinated individuals. In June, Cisco no longer made vaccines mandatory for “office entry, travel, event attendance, or visiting customers, partners, and other third parties.”
“[Companies] decided that the rationale for [mandates] had become weak enough that they don’t want to continue,” Jeff Levin-Scherz, population health leader at Willis Towers Watson, told the news outlet.
“At this point in the pandemic, the case for vaccine mandates is much weaker than it was in 2021,” said Dr. Leana Wen, a public health professor at George Washington University.
Last fall, the Biden administration ordered companies with more than 100 employees to get vaccinated or test weekly. However, in January of this year, the Supreme Court stopped this directive.
Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that healthcare workers at facilities receiving federal funding must be vaccinated.
The White House on Thursday urged firms to take several steps to safeguard employees and customers, including assisting their workers in obtaining up-to-date COVID-19 vaccines, ensuring that they are aware of COVID-19 treatment choices and how to obtain them, and enhancing indoor air quality throughout their facilities.