The risk of the Delta variant emerging globally and the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to wreak havoc on summer tourism, Disney parks cannot afford to let employees get sick. Therefore, The Walt Disney Company now requires that all U.S. employees be vaccinated before they can return to work.AdvertisementThe company released the following press release:The safety and well-being for our employees during the pandemic was and remains a top priority at The Walt Disney Company. Based on the latest recommendations from scientists, medical professionals, and health officials, we require that all employees working in the United States, both salaried and hourly, be fully vaccinated. Employees who have not been vaccinated but are on-site workers will have 60 days to complete their protocols. Any employees working remotely will also need to submit proof of vaccination before they can return to work. This topic has also been brought up by the unions that represent our employees in collective bargaining agreements. All new employees will need to be fully vaccinated prior to starting work. Vaccines are the best way to protect ourselves and our employees from this pandemic.Disney has not yet said if the same applies to visitors to its parks. The average daily attendance at Disney World this year was 57,000 at Magic Kingdom, 38,000 at Animal Kingdom, 34,000 at Epcot and 34,000 at Epcot. It also included 31,000 at Hollywood Studios. This is a much lower number than in pre-COVID days, but it still represents a significant crowd for parks that aren't operating at their full potential. We hope that Walt Disney Pictures, like other major studios such as Netflix, will also require employees to have vaccinated in order to work on productions.
