Apple has yet to issue a mandate similar to Google’s that would require all employees to be vaccinated, but it’s tightening its COVID-19 protocols nonetheless. According to Bloomberg, the tech giant will start requiring all unvaccinated corporate employees to be tested for COVID-19 every time they have to work in the office instead of working from home. Back in September, Bloomberg reported that Apple asked employees to share their vaccination status voluntarily. Those who refuse to share their vaccine status will also have to undergo daily testing, while vaccinated office workers will only have to do rapid testing once a week.
The company’s retail store employees, however, won’t be subjected to daily tests despite having consumer-facing jobs. Unvaccinated staff members are required to be tested twice a week. Like Apple’s office workers, vaccinated staff will only have to undergo weekly rapid testing. It’s unclear if the tech giant will ever issue a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, but the Biden administration previously gave all federal contractors a December 8th deadline to require all their employees to be inoculated against the virus. As Bloomberg notes, Apple sells products to the US government.
For now, Apple has reportedly given employees an October 24th deadline to report and show proof of their vaccination status, so it could implement the new rules starting on November 1st. Unvaccinated employees will have to pick-up at-home rapid tests from Apple offices and stores, do the test themselves and then report their results through an internal app.
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