Tyson Foods announced on Tuesday it will require the COVID-19 injection for its workers in the United States The company said about half of its workforce remains unvaccinated.
The leadership team is required to be vaccinated by Sept. 24. The rest of its office workers are required by Oct. 1. Frontline staff has until Nov. 1 to be fully vaccinated.
In addition, the company is offering $200 to frontline workers who verify they’re fully vaccinated. Employees are offered up to four hours of pay if they’re vaccinated outside of their normal shift.
Any new employees will be required to be vaccinated before they start work as well.
“As people have heard, new variants of COVID-19 are more contagious, more deadly and responsible for most cases in America today,” Tyson’s release said. “In some communities, doctors and hospitals are once again overwhelmed, while the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting nearly all hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. are among those who are unvaccinated. It is abundantly clear that getting vaccinated is the single most effective thing we can do to protect ourselves, our families and our communities.
“So today, like many other businesses, we are taking steps to protect all of these things by requiring all U.S. team members to be fully vaccinated.”
Tyson said it did not take the decision to force its employees to have an experimental drug injected into them lightly.
“We take this step today because nothing is more important than our team members’ health and safety, and we thank them for the work they do,” the release said.
Iowa legislators and Gov. Reynolds refused to include protections for employees in legislation that prohibited cities and governmental entities from using vaccine passports earlier this year despite pleas form Iowans at a subcommittee meeting.
