Google Requires All Employees Returning to Office To Be Vaccinated

Google Requires All Employees Returning to Office To Be Vaccinated
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
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Written by Harry Johnson

Google is the largest private corporation so far to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for its staff.

  • Anyone coming to work on Google campuses will need to be vaccinated.
  • The policy will be rolled out in the US in the coming weeks, and worldwide afterwards.
  • President Joe Biden said that a vaccine requirement for US federal workers is “under consideration right now.” 

American multinational technology company Google LLC has announced that all of its workers returning to work on its campuses will have to be inoculated with COVID-19 vaccine.

0a1 173 | eTurboNews | eTN
Google CEO Sundar Pichai

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Google sent the majority of its almost 140,000 employees home last March to work remotely. However now, Google’s campuses are reopening, and workers will be returning to the offices, but ONLY after they’ve been vaccinated, CEO Sundar Pichai told Google staff in an email today.

“Anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated,” Pichai wrote, adding that the policy will be rolled out in the US in the coming weeks, and worldwide afterwards.

Employees who do not wish to return to in-person work will be able to work from home until October, he continued, and the company will also allow some staff to work primarily from home through the end of the year.

Google is the largest private corporation so far to make inoculation mandatory for its staff, but the entire US government might soon follow suit.

Google’s decision comes as US President Joe Biden mulls mandatory shots for all federal workers.

Biden told reporters on Tuesday that a vaccine requirement for federal workers is “under consideration right now,” and media reports suggest that an announcement on the topic could come as early as Thursday.

Both Biden and Google apparently have the power to ask their workers to get jabbed. A review by the Justice Department concluded this week that both private and public entities can order workers to get vaccinated.

Google, however, has offices in 50 countries worldwide, and legal challenges against the vaccine mandate could be mounted in some of these locations. Pichai’s email noted that the mandate “will vary according to local conditions and regulations,” though no further details were provided.

Shortly after Pichai’s statement, Netflix announced that it will require all actors working on its productions in the US, and the staff in close contact with them, to be vaccinated.

About the author

Avatar of Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson has been the assignment editor for eTurboNews for mroe than 20 years. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is originally from Europe. He enjoys writing and covering the news.

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