Tyson to require all US workers to get COVID-19 vaccine

All Tyson Foods U.S. employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 1, 2021.

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(Tyson Foods)
(Tyson Foods)

All Tyson Foods U.S. employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 1, 2021, the company announced August 3.

“As people have heard, new variants of COVID-19 are more contagious, more deadly and responsible for most cases in America today,” CEO Donnie King wrote in a blog post. “It is abundantly clear that getting vaccinated is the single most effective thing we can do to protect ourselves, our families and our communities.”

The deadline for office workers is October 1 and plant workers have until November 1. All new hires must be vaccinated prior to their start date. Exceptions to the vaccine mandate will be made for religious or medical reasons, the company noted.

Half of the company’s 120,000 U.S. employees are currently vaccinated. All front-line employees who receive the vaccine are eligible for a $200 bonus, as well as up to four hours of pay if they get inoculated outside of work.

“We did not take this decision lightly. We have spent months encouraging our team members to get vaccinated – today, under half of our team members are. 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, every day, to help us feed this country, and our world,” King wrote.

More than $700 million spent

Tyson Foods has spent more than $700 million related to COVID-19, including buying masks, face shields and temperature scanners, installing protective barriers and providing onsite testing and vaccinations. The company purchased more than 150 infrared temperature scanners in 2020, which it says can take temperature more quickly than a handheld thermometer.

"This year, so far, we have invested countless hours educating our team members, in dozens of languages, about the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination," Shane Miller, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats, the beef and pork unit of Tyson Foods, testified at a congressional hearing last week. "We have also conducted more than 100 onsite vaccination events at our facilities and partnered with community leaders.”

Tyson Foods, headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, is the largest chicken producer in the United States and the fifth largest turkey producer. It is also one of the nation’s four largest beef producer and a major producer of pork. The company is also expanding its presence in the plant-based protein sector.  

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