United Airlines makes Covid-19 shots compulsory for US employees

United Airlines made fully vaccination against the Covid-19 compulsory for its domestic employees, the carrier said Friday, becoming the first American airline to do so.

The airline said employees would need to show proof of vaccination, five weeks after the United States drug regulator fully approves any of the vaccines from Pfizer Inc, Moderna Inc or Johnson & Johnson – expected sometime in the fall – or by October 25, whichever is earlier.

A resurgence of Covid-19 in the United States due to the more infectious delta variant has forced the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reimpose some mask mandates and some companies to require vaccinations at workplaces.

“The facts are crystal clear: everyone is safer when everyone is vaccinated,” United Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby and President Brett Hart said in a letter to employees.