Covid vaccine
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US airlines are increasingly at odds with each other over whether employees should be forced to take the covid-19 vaccine, even more so now, with the threat of the delta variant increasingly present.
Demand from the airline industry was slowly returning to what it was before the pandemic. With the recent advance in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, the yellow light turns on.
Many of the large US companies have mandated Covid vaccines that are mandatory for some or all of their employees.
United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines said this month that their US employees, a total of 73,000 people, must be vaccinated against the coronavirus. For its part, Alaska Airlines said it is considering a similar mandate for its approximately 20,000 employees if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, like ANVISA do Brasil) gives full approval for one of the vaccines, which should happen in the next few weeks.
Other names, however, such as Delta Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways say they encourage employees to get immunized, but it is not a requirement. Delta Airlines, unlike others, requires new employees to be vaccinated.
However, the companies' unions say that vaccination should remain non-mandatory. Mandating such an order “could put an airline at odds with its unions,” said Ben Baldanza, former CEO of Spirit Airlines.
The challenge, however, is that airlines that have covid cases can have their reliability affected already at a delicate time like this.
The Allied Pilots Association represents about 15,000 American Airlines pilots and issued an alarming warning on Thursday: Covid-19's weekly cases hit a "historic record" among pilots, rising to 36 in the first week of August, doubled from the number three weeks earlier. Furthermore, on August 12 alone, five pilots were hospitalized because of covid-19, none of whom had taken the vaccine against the virus.
There are many fears about the side effects the vaccines are supposed to cause, especially some pilots who think they might be unable to fly. Infectologist Anthony Fauci, Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for his part, said that all possible side effects of the vaccine would come within a maximum of two months.
As vaccination started more than two months ago, these would be unfounded fears.
Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian said making vaccines mandatory would likely not increase the rate of vaccinated employees, as 75% of the company's employees are already vaccinated and that 5-10% of employees would have a waiver for not taking the vaccine, be it religious or medical.
The Text contains information from CNBC.
Rafael Ramos
Aviation enthusiast from an early age, he had his first contacts with the area developing that good old habit of spending dozens of hours in front of the screens of Micrsoft Flight Simulator and other simulators. With a solid background in various technological areas, including engineering and chemistry, Rafael has rejoined aviation as editor and author of articles and materials on our portal, providing invaluable help to the dynamics and expansion of the website and the aeronautical community, bringing us the news and updates so indispensable for us to remain current in our area of operation.
   
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