The company that had one of the country's strictest inoculation mandates will allow unvaccinated workers to return to their jobs on March 28.
In August of last year, United said it would require U.S. employees to bevaccinated against Covid. The company said that more than 98% of their workers were protected from the disease.
In January, CEO Scott Kirby said the company didn't have any Covid deaths among unvaccinated workers over the past eight weeks, despite a surge in cases of the omicron variant.
United said that roughly 2,200 workers who received exemptions on medical or religious grounds would go on leave or be moved to non-customer facing roles. Flight attendants who weren'tvaccinated couldn't work their regular jobs. Roughly 200 employees were fired because they didn't have an accommodation.
The vice president of human resources said in a staff note that there was a drop in new Covid cases, hospitalizations and loosened masking requirements in many cities.
If another variant emerges or the COVID trends suddenly reverse course, we will reexamine the appropriate safety protocols.
The company will change its policy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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