The U.S. is set to mandate vaccinations for airline staff by DEC, and may even require passengers on domestic flights to be fully vaccinated as well.
The White House is reportedly pressing U.S. airlines to mandate vaccinations for their employees by 08DEC. Following the news, three more U.S. airlines introduced vaccine mandates: American, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue.
In a letter to employees on 01OCT signed by the company’s chief executive and presidents, American said the mandate was necessary because of its status as a government contractor. The New York Times highlights that President Biden announced in SEP that employees of government contractors would be required to be vaccinated, with some limited exceptions.
The letter also says that although the airline is still working through the details of the requirement, employees who remain unvaccinated will be terminated. Employees who have medical or religious reasons to decline the vaccine could apply for an accommodation.
In separate statements, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue also announced 01OCT that they would mandate vaccines for employees, with both also citing their position as federal contractors as the same reason. Alaska Airlines added that employees have until 01DEC to upload proof of full vaccination - with a USD $200 incentive.
According to Skift, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeffrey Zients spoke with chief executives from American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines on 30SEP to ensure the three are working to develop and enforce vaccine requirements by the 08DEC deadline. Since then, only American Airlines has announced a mandate.
Zients is urging airlines to “to act sooner than later to ensure as smooth of an implementation process as possible,” and highlights United Airlines’ vaccine mandate, which was issued in AUG 2021. Since then, United has fired 600 employees for not complying with the requirement.
Vaccine Requirements for U.S. Domestic Pax?
A new bill, proposed on 29SEP, may soon require U.S. domestic flyers to prove that they are also fully vaccinated.
The U.S. Air Travel Public Safety Act, introduced by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, would require all U.S. passengers to be fully vaccinated, fully recovered or test negative before boarding a U.S. domestic flight.
"We know that air travel during the 2020 holiday season contributed to last winter’s devastating COVID-19 surge," Feinstein said. "We simply cannot allow that to happen again."
According to USA Today, domestic U.S. air passengers do not require the same level of scrutiny as is common for international air travel, such as testing or showing proof of vaccination.
The U.S. Air Travel Public Safety Act would build on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s current international air travel requirements, where international travellers to the U.S. must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test or show proof of recovery from the virus.
The White House also recently announced that it will reopen its air borders to international travellers in NOV, provided that they can show proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test within three days of departure.
In the press release for the U.S. Air Travel Public Safety Act, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Public Health Association voiced their support for the additional requirements.
However, there is some opposition as well.
Back in SEP, White House chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci made a comment on an interview supporting a vaccination requirement for domestic flights. In response, the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) released a statement which opposed the requirement saying that “ U.S. Travel has long maintained that there should be no mandatory vaccination requirement for domestic travel. Such a policy would have an unfair, negative impact on families with young children who are not yet eligible to get the vaccine.”
Airlines have previously voiced their disagreement as well. In AUG, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said a vaccination requirement would "bottleneck the domestic travel system.”
There are only 81 days until Christmas 2021, and American Thanksgiving one month before often tops Christmas as the busiest travel day of the year.
