United Airlines Had Zero Covid-related Deaths Among Vaccinated Employees for 8 Weeks

As Covid-19 cases continue to surge, United Airlines’ CEO Scott Kirby has said that his company hasn’t had a Covid-related death among its nearly 70,000 employees in eight weeks.

United had mandated vaccines for staff this summer and Covid infections have surged among employees, forcing the carrier to cut flights.

This was the strictest vaccine mandate among U.S. carriers which stipulated that staff must be vaccinated against Covid or face termination. This fall, more than 96% of its employees were vaccinated, the company said.

About 3,000 United employees are positive for Covid, Kirby told employees late Monday. Zero are hospitalized, he said.

According to the CEO, prior to the vaccine mandate, more than one United employee died per week on average.

“But we’ve now gone eight straight weeks with zero COVID-related deaths among our vaccinated employees – based on United’s prior experience and the nationwide data related to COVID fatalities among the unvaccinated, that means there are approximately 8-10 United employees who are alive today because of our vaccine requirement.”

Other airlines didn’t immediately comment.

United had placed its vaccine mandate before the Biden administration required federal contractors, like major airlines, to mandate vaccines or receive a medical or religious exemption for staff.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.