Raytheon demands U.S. workers get vaccinated against COVID-19

WASHINGTON, Sept.15 (Reuters) – Raytheon, the maker of the Tomahawk missiles, will require all U.S. employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Employees must be vaccinated by mid-December in order to meet the Jan. 1 deadline for vaccination, a source close to politics said.

“In keeping with our continued commitment to maintain employee health and safety, Raytheon Technologies will require its U.S. employees to be fully immunized to further protect employees and communities from the risks and uncertainty of COVID-19 and its variants, “the statement said.

“Employees are expected to meet the requirements and if they do not, like any company policy, disciplinary action could be considered – until termination,” said the person familiar with the Politics.

Raytheon has 181,000 employees worldwide, but only US employees are subject to the policy.

U.S. President Joe Biden met with U.S. CEOs and other prominent business leaders on Wednesday as he pushes companies to demand that workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 amid an increase in infections among the unvaccinated. Read more

Biden last week announced vaccination warrants for nearly all federal employees, federal contractors and large corporations as the number of infections in the United States continued to rise, hospital beds in some parts of the country were filling up and the need for masks had returned.

Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.