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Those who are unvaccinated and want to continue working at Netflix, Facebook or Google in the near future better roll up their sleeves … and get the jab, ’cause it’ll be mandatory.
The news that all 3 media behemoths would be requiring COVID vaccines for in-office/on-set work came down Wednesday. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, reportedly sent an email to employees, saying they were delaying their full office return to October 18, due to the recent Delta spikes.
He also noted, however, that anyone coming back to work in the office after that would have to be inoculated, and show proof. It’s unclear if Google will continue to let employees work from home part-time — something they said they’d allow back in December … with workers required to come in at least 3 days a week once things were totally back to normal.
Facebook came out and said they’d be doing the same soon — confirming that employees looking to come work at U.S. offices going forward would need to prove they’ve gotten a shot … while also offering a small concession for those who don’t get vaxxed, saying medical and/or other reasons will be considered and evaluated as they navigate a way forward.
Netflix implemented something similar this week as well. They reportedly told their in-house production teams and partners that folks working in “Zone A” — which encompasses actors and those in close proximity to them — would be required to be vaxxed up.
They seem to be the first studio to draw a hard line in the sand on this issue — and other studios may follow suit now that they’ve taken this uncertain first step.
Netflix’s regular employees, meanwhile, have by and large been WFH during the pandemic — something their CEO, Reed Hastings, has suggested he hates … and wants to put an end to as soon as a majority of his workforce is vaccinated. He called WFH a “pure negative.”
It’s an interesting move on everyone’s part — more and more companies seemed inclined to mandate the jab as time goes on … which is bad news for anti-vaxxers.