As the epidemic subsides, Google has become the first Big Tech business to waive its Covid-19 vaccine requirement for employees.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Google has announced that it would discontinue the Covid-19 vaccine obligation that it enacted in December 2021, starting immediately.
Sundar Pichai’s tech behemoth mentioned the “amazing period” that has gone since the Covid pandemic’s inception in a statement to staff.
“We put in place emergency measures such as our Covid-19 vaccine policy to keep everyone safe, but now the world is in a very different place,” said Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president of global security.
Governments across the world, including the United States, are relaxing restrictions and eliminating vaccine requirements.
The Google memo was issued shortly after US President Joe Biden signed legislation to cease the national emergency response to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Covid-19 was designated a public health emergency by the Trump administration’s health secretary on January 31, 2020, and Trump proclaimed it a national emergency in March.
“Covid-19 vaccines have been a critical part of our overall strategy to keep Googlers safe, especially in the workplace. They also have the benefit of reducing the risk of severe disease if you get infected and have helped to protect vulnerable members of our community,” the Google memo to employees further read.
Rackow urged employees to keep up to date with their Covid shots.
“I am proud and grateful for the resilience you’ve all shown as we navigated so much uncertainty — for our company and the world — over the past few years,” he mentioned.
