White House urges U.S. airlines to quickly demand vaccines for staff

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (Reuters) – The White House is pressuring major U.S. airlines to prescribe coronavirus vaccines to their employees by Dec. 8 and shows no signs of extending the deadline, said Friday four sources to Reuters.

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeffrey Zients spoke to CEOs of American Airlines (AAL.O), Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and Southwest Airlines (LUV) on Thursday N) to ensure they were working quickly to develop and enforce vaccine requirements before the Dec. 8 deadline for federal contractors, the sources said.

Some airline officials had asked the White House to push back the demands, signed by President Joe Biden last month, until the busy holiday travel season ends.

Zients urged airlines “to act as soon as possible to ensure as smooth an implementation process as possible,” a source said, and clarified that the White House did not intend to ease the time limit.

Zients also urged them to review the United Airlines (UAL.O) vaccine requirement that was announced in August.

The three airlines separately confirmed that the calls had taken place, but declined to discuss details. Zients did not respond to a request for comment on the calls.

“Employers must act now to protect their workforce,” Zients told a press briefing on Friday, not to mention airlines directly. “More and more companies are striving to make vaccine requirements the norm in all industries.”

Last month, Biden signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to mandate vaccinations and issued guidelines last week.

Major US airlines have a number of federal contracts, including the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF), which was activated in August to help transport evacuees from Afghanistan in support of the US Department of Defense.

The Biden administration on Thursday informed carriers that it would seek an amendment to those CRAF contracts to require vaccinations for airline employees, sources told Reuters.

Other government agencies are also expected to seek changes to airline contracts.

Last week, the Allied PilotsAssociation, which represents 14,000 pilots who fly for American Airlines, warned that “mandatory vaccinations could lead to labor shortages and create serious operational problems for American Airlines and its peers.” .

Two small airlines said on Friday they would comply with the vaccine mandate for federal contractors. JetBlue Airways (JBLU.O) said it had “communicated this vaccine requirement to our crew members.”

Alaska Airlines (ALK.N) said it will comply with federal contractors’ vaccine requirements, saying it believes it and other major U.S. airlines are covered by the executive order.

Alaska said this “means all of our employees, including some contractors and suppliers, will need to be fully vaccinated or approved for reasonable accommodation such as medical conditions or religious beliefs that prevent them from being vaccinated. “.

He added: “The date by which employees should be fully immunized has not been confirmed by the government, but it could be as early as December 8.”

The Federal Procurement Regulatory Council on Thursday released a memorandum on including a clause in their vaccine solicitations and contracts. It is expected to issue guidelines on the exemptions on October 8, sources said.

Separately, the Ministry of Labor will issue an emergency order covering more than 80 million private sector employees to require either regular COVID-19 testing or vaccines. This order is expected this month.

Delta said on Friday that 84% of its employees are vaccinated and continue to “evaluate the administration’s plan.” Southwest said it “continues to strongly encourage employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.”

United Airlines said 99.5% of its US-based employees are now vaccinated against COVID-19, excluding those who have requested an exemption.

The Chicago-based carrier said only 320 U.S.-based employees are currently not complying with its COVID-19 vaccination policy.

United, which in early August became the first US carrier to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all its national employees, had asked staff to provide proof of vaccination by Monday or face dismissal.

Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington Editing by Howard Goller, Rosalba O’Brien and Matthew Lewis

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