The Vax Of Life, Con't

While most Fortune 500 companies are keeping vaccine mandates despite last week's SCOTUS ruling scrapping the Biden Administration's OSHA mandate requirements, some very big American corporations are now dropping COVID vaccine mandates altogether, starting with one of America's biggest employers: Starbucks.

In a memo to employees first reported by the Associated Press, Starbucks said it is no longer requiring employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 after the Supreme Court’s rejection of Biden’s plan to require vaccines or weekly testing at companies with more than 100 workers.

Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver wrote in the memo “we respect the court’s ruling and will comply,” but added the company continues to “believe strongly in the spirit and intent of the mandate,” and encouraged employees to get the vaccine.

Some companies across various industries are holding firm to their plans to require vaccines: Carhartt faced calls for both support and boycotts after a leaked letter surfaced detailing the workwear brand’s plans to keep its vaccine policy in effect.

Major banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup told Forbes they will continue their vaccine mandates in light of the decision, and Wells Fargo said it will continue its testing program as part of its vaccine-or-test policy.

United Airlines and Tyson Foods have also adopted vaccine mandates for their workers while a number of companies require vaccines to work from the office, including American Express, Deloitte, Facebook, Google, Lyft, Salesforce and Uber.

General Electric announced last week it would be rolling back its vaccine and testing plans, and additional companies could follow, as a Willis Towers poll conducted in November found 32% of companies planned to require vaccinations only if Biden’s mandate took effect.

The Big Number: 200,000. That’s how many employees Starbucks has in the U.S., the New York Times reports.

Like many companies, Starbucks had announced it would require all employees to be vaccinated by February 9, or they would be required to complete a weekly Covid test. Biden’s vaccine mandate for large employers faced a lengthy legal battle after he signed the executive order in November. A federal appeals court blocked the mandate later in November, which led to arguments at the Supreme Court. In a 6-3 decision last week, the court ruled to temporarily halt the vaccine-or-test mandate, writing the mandate is a “significant encroachment” into employees’ lives and health, and the decision should have been left to Congress. The case has been handed down to lower courts to decide if it will be permanently upheld or struck down.

A majority of Americans still want employer vaccine mandates, even after the Supreme Court ruling, according to a Morning Consult poll: 56% of respondents said they believe employers should require Covid-19 vaccinations, while 33% said they were opposed.

So expect about a third of big corporations to drop vaccine mandates in the days ahead, or to cancel plans to have mandates go into effect on February 9th. It'll mean tens of millions of unvaccinated workers will stay unvaccinated, and thousands will die as a direct result.