Tyson Foods Will Require All Employees to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine

Tyson Foods announced Tuesday (August 3) that it will require all of its workforce in the U.S. to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

KFOR is reporting that all of the company’s U.S. office employees are required to be fully vaccinated by October 1, 2021. All other members of the workforce must be fully vaccinated by November 1, 2021. However, that date is subject to talks with union members at locations that are represented by unions.

Dr. Claudia Coplein, Tyson Foods Chief Medical Officer says this is the right time to put the mandate in place:

Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is the single most effective thing we can do to protect our team members, their families and their communities. With rapidly rising COVID-19 case counts of contagious, dangerous variants leading to increasing rates of severe illness and hospitalization among the U.S. unvaccinated population, this is the right time to take the next step to ensure a fully vaccinated workforce.

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Tyson will make exceptions to the mandate based on medical or religious reasons.

Part of the effort to have all team members receive the COVID-19 vaccine is a $200 payment to all frontline workers, “subject to ongoing discussions with locations represented by unions.”

Tyson says that roughly 50% of its employees are already fully vaccinated.

The company has been compensating employees up to four hours of regular pay if they choose to get the vaccine outside of working hours or through a source outside of Tyson Foods.

You can read Tyson Foods’ full press release at this location.