Covid-19: Brazil’s Gol airlines to require employee vaccination as of November

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Gol airlines will require that all its employees be vaccinated against Covid-19. The requirement becomes effective on November 1.

According to the company’s CEO Paulo Kakinoff, there will be an exception only for cases in which an employee cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. Gol is the first large company in the country to implement the measure.

“It is the company’s right to assess how much this decision (not to be vaccinated) jeopardizes the safety of other people. We will assess each case, but our determination is for all (employees) to be immunized,” the executive said.

Also according to Kakinoff, should an employee fail to present a justification for not taking the vaccine, efforts will be made to try to raise awareness. If workers still fail to show proof of vaccination, they will be fired.

The measure is in line with the example of U.S. companies, where the resistance of part of the population to the vaccine has led to an increase in the number of infections. In the airline industry, United Airlines was the first to announce that vaccination is mandatory, while Delta Airlines has imposed a monthly fine of US$200 to employees who refuse to be vaccinated.

Kakinoff, who is part of the “United for the Vaccine” project – a group comprising entrepreneurs and executives to help in the distribution of immunizers throughout the country -, says that Gol understands that there is a considerable number of people who have not been vaccinated due to misinformation. The obligation intends to raise awareness among employees.

Another justification for the measure, he says, is to encourage other companies to follow this direction. “We are sure that we will only end the pandemic once the largest possible number of people are immunized.”

So far, 80% of Gol’s 15,000 employees have been administered the first dose. The company started an internal campaign on the issue in June. “Now we are intensifying the campaign, positioning the company even more clearly in defense and the need for vaccination.”

However, the executive says he is against a “vaccination passport” for passengers, which would allow boarding only for people already immunized. According to him, this could disadvantage people who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons.

“We would have a small relative number, but it would be a considerable absolute number of people who cannot be vaccinated. To introduce such a regime would disadvantage these people.”