Walt Disney Company announces vaccine requirement for US workforce

Disney joins a growing list of US corporate entities who are deciding to enact COVID vaccine requirements as a matter of company policy.

Outlets like Variety and Deadline both shared the announcement.

“At The Walt Disney Company, the safety and well-being of our employees during the pandemic has been and continues to be a top priority,” the company said in a statement.

“Toward that end, and based on the latest recommendations of scientists, health officials and our own medical professionals that the COVID-19 vaccine provides the best protection against severe infection, we are requiring that all salaried and non-union hourly employees in the US working at any of our sites be fully vaccinated.”

It was back on Wednesday that Disney made a related announcement about mandates. For attendees of their amusement parks, the company decided to bring back mask requirements whenever people are indoors at their locations.

When it comes to this newest vaccine mandate for Disney employees, reporting suggests the blanket requirement extends to the amusement park entities too.

The Walt Disney Company names a deadline for currently unvaccinated employees to schedule their COVID shot.

“Employees who aren’t already vaccinated and are working on-site will have 60 days from today to complete their protocols and any employees still working from home will need to provide verification of vaccination prior to their return, with certain limited exceptions. We have also begun conversations around this topic with the unions representing our employees under collective bargaining agreements.”

Netflix recently announced vaccine mandates for cast and crew on production sets. In a similar situation to Disney, the exacts of the requirements were ironed out by Hollywood industry union leadership.

Axios is keeping a tally of the various US corporations making a call to mandate vaccines. In the big tech sector, Uber and Lyft join the social media giants of Google, Twitter, and Facebook on instituting vaccines in workplace policy.

However not all union organizations in the US are siding with COVID vaccine mandates, so far.

The American Postal Workers Union took a different stance on Thursday. They believe that while strong encouragement for voluntary COVID shots is productive, beyond that “it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent.”