The flag carrier airline of Switzerland, SWISS, has announced that it is making vaccinations against COVID-19 mandatory for all of its employees from November 15, 2021.
The new regulation comes amidst a backdrop of tightening global travel restrictions, requiring airline staff to be fully vaccinated in order to carry out their job in other countries.
SWISS added that it took the move to make COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory for staff in order to stay in line with international measures and as a “duty of care” towards its employees.
The company has stated that the complexities of having to run two separate operations for vaccinated and unvaccinated staff are logistically too difficult to continue. After one of SWISS’ top destinations, Hong Kong, announced that only vaccinated staff would be allowed to enter its airport with immediate effect, the firm was forced to take action.
“We must initiate this action now, if we are to continue to maintain our global route network and fulfil our care obligations towards our employees," announced the CEO of Swiss, Dieter Vranckx.