When I wrote my post about United Airlines requiring employees to get vaccinated, I expected to get comments about how such a requirement infringed on personal freedoms. Not surprisingly, the usual suspects showed up and commented about how mandating someone to get a vaccine was wrong.
I normally don’t engage but in this case, the arguments were so weak and inconsistent I felt the need to point out how a company requiring something of its employees is different from a government mandate or a company requiring something from its customers.
I could point out that a federal judge has ruled a cruise line can require passengers to be vaccinated, stating that unvaccinated people are not a protected class of citizens. None other than CNBC contributor Jim Cramer spelled it out on his Twitter account:
So why can’t an airline require employees to be vaccinated?
Anyway, after United Airlines announced that all employees need to be vaccinated, the anti-vax community jumped at any and all chances to accuse United of forcing experimental vaccines on its employees. With that, following our post about United’s announcement, someone even wrote to us about an unconfirmed email from United Master Executive Council Union for United Airlines pilots (UALMEC) Chairman Todd Insler that suggested unvaccinated pilots should STFU.
Actually, the email in question more appeared to criticize someone who was implying that airlines requiring vaccines were the same as the Nazis doing experiments on Jewish prisoners during WWII.
OK, wait a second. Really? That’s the comparison they made? Nazi experiments? Seriously?
When researching this post, I went down the rabbit hole. I was originally just trying to see if the email was legit. But then I found a website where pilots were supposedly complaining about getting vaccinated and possibly being at risk of losing their pilot license in the future if unproven possible side effects ended up causing possible health problems down the line.
I’m not going to link to any of these sites because their alleged evidence for vaccine hesitance is based on questionable evidence. There’s no need to put add any more fuel, in the form of clicks, on that dumpster fire.
While I supported United Airlines requiring employees to get the COVID vaccine, I was interested in the arguments against vaccines. When that discussion quickly morphed into comparisons to Nazi Germany, I realized they had little ground to stand on, and United is blazing a trail that Delta, Southwest, and American may eventually follow.
If they choose not to require their employees, including pilots, to be vaccinated, I hope it’s not because of the conspiracy-laden untruths spread by anti-vax people on social media.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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