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In a meeting with President Biden on Wednesday to discuss national vaccination efforts, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby suggested he believed vaccine mandates for businesses and organizations would become more standardized within weeks. coming as the COVID wave triggered by the delta variant intensifies.
“In a few weeks, this will be something widespread across the country because it’s really just a basic safety issue,” Kirby told CNN after the meeting ended.
Executives from other industries and institutions, such as Howard University President Wayne Frederick and Kaiser Permanente CEO Gregory Adams, also attended the meeting to share their strategies for increasing immunization rates within their communities. workforce and among their customers, Reuters reported. Kirby said Biden asked those attendees about their efforts and to persuade more hesitant business leaders to follow in their footsteps.
Biden applauded businesses and communities that have demanded employee vaccination checks and himself led by example in making vaccination mandatory for all federal staff. He endorsed steps taken by Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to require private recreation establishments and businesses, such as restaurants, gyms and theaters, to request proof of vaccination at the door as a condition entry.
“I will have the back and the back of other leaders in the private and public sectors if they take such steps,” Biden said last week.
United Airlines recently announced that it would require its staff to get vaccinated in order to keep their jobs. For the airline industry, United Airlines has deviated from the standard set by its competitors American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines, which encourage and even financially incentivize employee vaccination but do not require it. Beyond the employees, Kirby appeared to acknowledge during the meeting that the requirement for vaccines for customers can be difficult to implement and unpopular.
However, SouthWest Airlines said on Wednesday earnings performance slumped due to the spread of the delta variant, which lowered travel demand. Major airlines are facing increased pressure from the Biden administration to speed up their vaccination campaigns to curb the spread of COVID.
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