United Will Require U.S. Crew, Employees to Be Vaccinated

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United Airlines is the First U.S. Airline to Require the COVID-19 Vaccine for All U.S. Crew and Staff. United CEO Scott Kirby announced the new mandate to United's 67,000 U.S. staff in a letter. While acknowledging that some employees would disagree with his decision, he emphasized “We have no greater responsibility to you and your colleagues than to ensure your safety when you’re at work, and the facts are crystal clear: everyone is safer when everyone is vaccinated.”

Earlier, in January 2021, Kirby had said at an employee town hall that United Airlines wanted the COVID-19 vaccine to be mandatory for employees, although to date, no other U.S. airline has made the vaccine mandatory for all current crew and employees. In May 2021, Delta Airlines required that all new Delta employees be vaccinated, but that mandate doesn't apply to existing Delta crew and staff.

American Airlines appears to have decided against a vaccine mandate; CEO Doug Parker is on record as saying that he hopes $50 gift cards and an extra vacation day in 2022 to employees who are vaccinated by August 31, 2021 will be a sufficient incentive.

Under United's vaccine requirement, all crew and staff must show proof of vaccination five weeks after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announces full approval for a coronavirus vaccine, or five weeks after Sept. 20, whichever is first. Given that timeline, the latest possible deadline for meeting the requirement is October 25, 2021, although if full FDA vaccine approval is before 9/20/21, the deadline could be earlier. Pfizer's vaccine is expected to earn full FDA approval in early September 2021, about 4 months after its early May application for full approval. Later in August, Moderna is planning to submit its vaccine for full FDA approval, but if the approval process takes as long as Pfizer's, it would be late 2021 by the time it earns full approval.

Several U.S. medical associations, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics support vaccine requirements, and several large companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and others require all employees returning to the office to be fully vaccinated. Among non-tech companies, Tyson Foods is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated by 11/1/21, and Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group in NYC, which includes The Modern, Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, Union Square Cafe and others, is requiring as of 9/7/21 that all staff (as well as guests dining indoors) be fully vaccinated.

While we haven't been all that keen to fly United Airlines in the past, we applaud its commitment to keeping its staff and passengers safer, by mandating staff vaccination, and all else equal, would opt for United ahead of other U.S. airlines that don't commit to having all staff vaccinated.

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