Apple Expands Efforts to Vaccinate Employees, But Doesn't Mandate Vaccines

[MacRumors]

Apple is further pushing its employees in the United States to get vaccinated now that the Food and Drug Administration has officially approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, reports Bloomberg.

Apple has launched a new internal web page, sent out an employee memo, and is holding internal talks as part of its vaccination campaign.

"Apple is asking everyone who has access to the vaccine and is able to get vaccinated to do so as soon as you can," the company said in the memo, which was sent to staff Thursday evening. Sumbul Desai, Apple's vice president of health efforts, and Kristina Raspe, vice president in charge of real estate, are also hosting talks to encourage employees to get the shots.

The webpage Apple has created explains the delta variant and how getting vaccinated can help prevent its spread. Apple is also offering vouchers for employees to get vaccinated through Walgreens, and it is providing on-site vaccinations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Austin, Texas. Apple gives employees paid time off for vaccine appointments and paid sick leave for those who experience side effects.

Apple is not mandating that its employees get vaccinated, which is a departure from other tech companies in the area. Both Google and Facebook are requiring employees to be vaccinated, but according to Bloomberg, Apple has not done so for the sake of employee privacy.

Earlier this month, Apple implemented more frequent testing for corporate and retail employees, asking them to take COVID-19 tests up to three times per week.

Apple initially planned to have employees return to work for three days a week in September, but with cases continuing to ramp up, corporate employees will be able to work from home until at least January 2022.

Article Link: Apple Expands Efforts to Vaccinate Employees, But Doesn't Mandate Vaccines

 

[HeavenDynamic]

They will eventually mandate vaccines, just like everywhere in the world.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Eventually, Apple will be forcing the employees for the vaccines to get mandated. Why waste time not mandating it now when Food and Drug Administration officially approved it.

Why is this all wishy-washy?

 

[farewelwilliams]

should mandate it. weed out the people who are antivax.

 

[gsurf123]

This is none of our concern. Who cares what "X" company does in terms of mandate anything.

 

[LeadingHeat]

Apple has not done so for the sake of employee privacy.

Now this is a privacy standpoint I could get behind. Private health information should not be mandated to be shared.

 

[swingerofbirch]

I don't know if it's macabre to talk about, but I have wondered several times how Steve Jobs would have landed on this. He was famously contrarian. And with his own medical problems and to his detriment, he chose alternative treatments before switching to conventional medicine. I wonder if part of his free-spirit nature is why Apple is not going along with other companies.

I am vaccinated myself and not necessarily against mandates (and not in a position where I have to really think about that), but given that you can spread the virus even when you are vaccinated, to me mandating testing seems like it could be as helpful or more so? I don't work in an office, but if I did, for my own interest, I think I would be more interested in knowing whether someone has COVID than whether they have the vaccine. I would prefer both, but if I could only pick one, I think it might be mandatory testing on a frequent basis.

Edit: I should add, I think people should get vaccinated both for themselves and for the general good. I am thinking about this in a self-interested way in terms of the immediate safety of returning to an office.

 

[Act3]

They will eventually mandate vaccines, just like everywhere in the world.

everywhere? my employer, an energy company, has over 30K employees, no vaccine mandates at all for any vaccine. flu, covid, hep, etc...

 

[meaning-matters]

should mandate it. weed out the people who are antivax.

Pure discrimination.

 

[usagora]

Now this is a privacy standpoint I could get behind. Private health information should not be mandated to be shared.

Even a simple "yes" or "no" whether someone has had one particular vaxine? Or am I missing something here?

 

[meaning-matters]

Most who gained natural corona immunity don't need a vaccine.

 

[Act3]

Most who gained natural corona immunity don't need a vaccine.

The vast majority that get ill from corona are sick, old, or obese.

the old, sick or obese are the vaccinated. the age group being hospitalized this go around are younger and very high percentage are unvaccinated ... I get daily reports from my local hospital as my wife works there, nearly 90% of covid patients are unvaccinated. And they are at the point of having most covid patients that they have ever had since the pandemic began.

 

[velocityg4]

How about tranquilizer dart guns loaded with vaccines instead. Give prizes to the employees who vaccinate the most people.

 

[Blackstick]

Surprising. We're already mandating vaccines for anyone going back to the office. Also, those not vaccinated by 1/1/2022 will have to start paying most of the premium on their corporate Aetna plan... which is presently fully covered for the employee and their family.

We've lost 10+ people to Covid, most of them previously healthy adults under 50, a few of them athletes. Enough was enough.

 

[jz0309]

they should just mandate it. period. end of story.

 

[iPadified]

To accept vaccination is like keeping to the speed limits when driving. It is safer for yourself as well as others. We are expected to keep the speed limits by law so a law demanding obligatory vaccination is not so far off. Of course, people with documented adverse effects are exempt.

 

[citysnaps]

Mandate. Easy. Don’t like the policy, find another job.

 

[SSDGUY]

Eventually, Apple will be forcing the employees for the vaccines to get mandated. Why waste time not mandating it now when Food and Drug Administration officially approved it.

Why is this all wishy-washy?

Perhaps because human beings should possess the right to not be forced to have foreign substances injected into their bodies for fear of losing their jobs. Educate > Debate > Freedom of choice

 

[FasterQuieter]

I am very torn on this. I got the vaccine and think people who don't are misguided. On the other hand, forcing people to do something they are so sure is detrimental to their health and freedoms seems un-American. Glad I'm not making any decisions.

 

[iPadified]

Perhaps because humans beings should possess the right to not be forced to have foreign substances injected into their bodies for fear of losing their jobs. Educate > Debate > Freedom of choice

In a modern country, you are forcefully taken in foreign substances all the time. Mostly without a clue what it is as opposed to vaccines that are extremely well documented.

 

[Blackstick]

I am very torn on this. I got the vaccine and think people who don't are misguided. On the other hand, forcing people to do something they are so sure is detrimental to their health and freedoms seems un-American. Glad I'm not making any decisions.

My coworker thought that way... he's been in the hospital for 2 weeks, moved into the ICU last Monday. Per his wife, prognosis is not great. He's on a heart-lung machine, but he can't ween off the ventilator, his O2 level crashes, lungs look like they're covered in a cloud. Tried all the conventional therapies.

Wishes he got the vaccine now.

Edit: Too late... he passed away at 5:30AM this morning. I’m sad and furious at the same time.

 

[rpmurray]

Evolution in action.

 

[iPadified]

I am very torn on this. I got the vaccine and think people who don't are misguided. On the other hand, forcing people to do something they are so sure is detrimental to their health and freedoms seems un-American. Glad I'm not making any decisions.

Am I getting it right that putting others in danger is American? I wonder what a court would say if a non vaccinated and infected person willfully went to work and as a result effected others resulting in death or side effects like loss of smell and fatigue.

 

[iGeneo]

everywhere? my employer, an energy company, has over 30K employees, no vaccine mandates at all for any vaccine. flu, covid, hep, etc...

A large bank has just announced requirements for customers.. I believe Deutche Bank.. or Goldman Sax?

 

[icerabbit]

Through a friend of the family, 5 floors of the local hospital are entirely filled with covid patients, 99% of them unvaccinated. It is just unfathomable that we're going in the wrong direction ... when the vaccine, masks and hand washing are such simple measures.

Please, just get the JAB folks, for your own sake, for your family, friends, loved ones, coworkers.

If most people do no get on board with getting vaccinated, this is just going to keep going around in circles, variant a b c d e f g ... bankrupting healthcare, eroding the economy in various ways ... and life will never return to normal. Every country that had the idea they were going to toughen it out and get just herd immunity the old fashioned / natural way has failed.