(CN) — Google will mandate the Covid-19 vaccine for all employees returning to in-person work in October, the company announced Wednesday.
“Anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated,” said Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, in a Wedensday memo. Alphabet is the parent company of Google.
Google became one of the first major companies to order employees to work from home in March 2020, when the coronavirus had just begun to spread in the United States. The company, which employs about 140,000 people around the world and is headquartered in Mountain View, California, said its employees could continue to work remotely until Oct. 18.
Previously, the company had pinned September as the return date, but cited the delta variant as a reason for pushing back the date. "Many Googlers are seeing spikes in their communities caused by the delta variant and are concerned about returning to the office,” Pichai wrote. “This extension will allow us time to ramp back into work while providing flexibility for those who need it.”
The company declined to provide current vaccination rates, but Pichai said “it’s encouraging to see very high vaccination rates for our Google community in areas where vaccines are widely available.”
Some Google workers have already returned to the office voluntarily. Mask wearing has increased given the uptick in cases since California reopened June 15.
While remote work has surged in the technology industry in general, Google said employees will be required to come into the office for at least three days a week.
Vaccine mandates have begun to be wielded by both private and public entities, championed by public health officials who say that greater vaccination rates in the general public will help finally subdue Covid-19, which has wrought havoc on all society since March of last year.
Opponents of such mandates say they represent a major intrusion on civil liberties and into people’s private medical decisions. Business and public entities have a legal right to predicate participation in certain activities on vaccination status. Broadly, the federal government does not have the right to force individuals to take a vaccine.
It would take an act of Congress to make a nationwide vaccination a matter of law and it would likely face legal challenges.
Some public health experts say vaccination rates will help subdue the virus more swiftly, thereby excluding the possibility of variants. Others in the public health field claim a combination of vaccination with natural immunity provided when one recovers from the virus, will suffice.
California Governor Gavin Newsom required all state employees and people in the health care field to be vaccinated as a condition of employment or submit to regular testing. Likewise, President Joe Biden is expected to announce Thursday federal workers must get the vaccine or be subjected to regular testing requirements.
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