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Ohio Woman Denied Life-Saving Liver Transplant After Refusing to Get COVID Vaccine + More
An Ohio Woman Was Denied a Life-Saving Liver Transplant After Refusing to Get a COVID Vaccine
After years battling stage-four liver cancer and getting treatment at the Cleveland Clinic, Michelle Vitullo was told she couldn’t get a planned liver transplant, her daughter told a local Fox station.
Her daughter, Angela Green, was a match for the life-saving transplant, and the surgery was scheduled for late September.
But two weeks after it was scheduled, the transplantation was postponed indefinitely since neither Vitullo nor Green had received the COVID-19 vaccine.
L.A., San Diego School Districts Are Sued Over Student Vaccination Mandate
Los Angeles Times via MSN reported:
California’s two largest school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — are targeted in lawsuits challenging their student COVID-19 vaccination mandates, alleging the vaccines are too new and that unvaccinated children face discrimination and the denial of their equal right to a public education.
Both school systems were ahead of the state in requiring student vaccines as a measure to make campuses safer and to limit spread of the coronavirus in the community — and their mandates are more comprehensive than the state requirement, which has yet to be codified into law.
The Latest: Vaccine Mandate for Calif. Prison Guards Blocked
A California judge has partially blocked an order taking effect this week that requires state prison employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
A Kern County judge issued a temporary restraining order that prevents enforcement of the vaccination mandate for unionized guards.
Google AI Department Sued for Using the Health Data of 1.6 Million NHS Patients
A class-action lawsuit has been launched against DeepMind, the Google-owned AI research company, over its use of the personal records of 1.6 million patients from the UK’s National Health Service (thanks, AI News). The health data was provided by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in 2015.
The handing-over of patient records to one of the world’s biggest technology companies was exposed by New Scientist in 2017, in a report showing that DeepMind had access to far more data than had been publicly announced. The UK Information Commission launched an investigation that ruled the Royal Free hospital hadn’t done enough to protect patients’ privacy: following which, DeepMind apologised.
People in Israel and Bahrain Are Losing Their Vaccination Status for Not Taking Boosters
Israel and Bahrain want eligible residents to take their COVID booster shots — and those who don’t do so risk losing their fully-vaccinated status, and the privileges that come with it.
In Israel, vaccinated people are given a so-called “green pass” that allows them to enter hotels, restaurants and many other indoor venues.
People who have recovered from COVID-19 can also be issued a green pass under a different set of guidelines.
Southwest Pilots Union Sues to Block Airline’s Vaccination Mandate
In what appears to be one of the first cases of a union pushing back against the new COVID vaccination requirements handed down by the Biden Administration, a union representing pilots at Southwest Airlines is suing to stop the vaccine requirement from being forced until a lawsuit is resolved.
Bloomberg reports that the union representing Southwest’s pilots has asked a court to grant a temporary stay against the federal vaccination rules until an ongoing lawsuit over what they allege are violations of U.S. labor laws is resolved.
No Unemployment Checks for Health Workers Who Refuse Vaccine
There will be no state unemployment benefits for healthcare workers who are fired for refusing to get employer-mandated vaccinations against COVID-19, state officials said Thursday.
Already, a small number of workers have quit rather than be fully vaccinated ahead of the deadline at month’s end.
“Refusing to comply with an employer’s policies, including a health or safety policy, typically disqualifies a person from being eligible to receive unemployment benefits,” Jessica Picard, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Labor, said Thursday.
Facebook Is Researching AI Systems That See, Hear and Remember Everything You Do
A new research project led by Facebook’s artificial intelligence (AI) team suggests the scope of the company’s ambitions. It imagines AI systems that are constantly analyzing peoples’ lives using first-person video; recording what they see, do, and hear in order to help them with everyday tasks. Facebook’s researchers have outlined a series of skills it wants these systems to develop, including “episodic memory” (answering questions like “where did I leave my keys?”) and “audio-visual diarization” (remembering who said what when).
Such ambitions have huge privacy implications. Privacy experts are already worried about how Facebook’s AR glasses allow wearers to covertly record members of the public. Such concerns will only be exacerbated if future versions of the hardware not only record footage, but analyze and transcribe it, turning wearers into walking surveillance machines.
NBA Star Kyrie Irving Says Refusal to Get COVID Vaccine Is ‘What’s Best for Me’
Kyrie Irving said Wednesday he didn’t want to lose salary or a chance to compete for a championship with the Brooklyn Nets, but was doing “what’s best for me” by refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Nets decided Tuesday that Irving wouldn’t be with the team because he isn’t eligible to play in home games, where a New York mandate requires professional athletes on one of the city’s teams to be vaccinated to practice or play in public venues.
“I am doing what’s best for me. I know the consequences here and if it means that I’m judged and demonized for that, that’s just what it is,” Irving said. “That’s the role I play, but I never wanted to give up my passion, my love, my dream just over this mandate.”
U.S. Pastors, Advocacy Groups Mobilize Against COVID Vaccine Mandates
As the Biden administration prepares a federal vaccine mandate and more states and companies impose them to help accelerate the pandemic’s end, letter-writing efforts by religious leaders are being reinforced by legal advocacy groups such as Liberty Counsel.
The organization said it has sent more than 100 letters to companies including United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL.O) and Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N) vowing litigation if they improperly reject religious exemption requests.
Chicago Police Union Head Urges Cops to Defy Vaccine Mandate
The head of the Chicago police officers union has called on its members to defy the city’s requirement to report their COVID-19 vaccination status by Friday or be placed on unpaid leave.
In the video posted online Tuesday and first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara vowed to take Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration to court if it tries to enforce the mandate, which requires city workers to report their vaccine status by the end of the work week. After Friday, unvaccinated workers who won’t submit to semiweekly coronavirus testing will be placed on unpaid leave.
Medical Chaos: Result of Firing Unvaccinated Nurses in Houston
Two months after firing unvaccinated hospital staff, Houston Methodist is one of several area hospitals experiencing a severe shortage of medical personnel. Media reports say hospitals have “reached a breaking point” because of a flood of COVID-19 cases.
Public officials are scrambling to address the shortage, which has created a massive patient backlog throughout the Houston area. More than a week ago, Tex Gov. Greg Abbott requested out of state assistance for the statewide crisis, including 2,500 out of state nurses. LBJ Hospital officials said those nurses have not yet arrived.
What we know is that Houston hospitals that did not abruptly fire 150 employees struggled to deal with the COVID spike, and in some cases people died as a result. So it’s safe to presume that Houston Methodist’s decision to fire 150 employees a few weeks before the Delta variant arrived in force didn’t make the situation any better and probably made it much worse.
Arkansas Governor OKs Bill Allowing Vaccine Mandate Opt-Outs
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday effectively approved a new law that will allow employees to opt-out of COVID-19 vaccine requirements, a move by fellow Republicans to challenge federal vaccine mandates.
Hutchinson allowed the measure to become law without his signature despite his concerns about the impact it will have on businesses in the state. The new law won’t take effect until early next year.
United Vaccine Mandate on Hold for Employees Seeking Medical or Religious Exemptions + More
United Vaccine Mandate on Hold for Employees Seeking Medical or Religious Exemptions
A federal judge in Texas has temporarily stopped United Airlines’ plan to put employees on leave if they have requested an exemption to the company’s COVID vaccine mandate.
Roughly 2,000 out of the 67,000 US United employees, or less than 3%, requested an exemption from the mandate for religious or medical reasons. United said even if their requests for medical exemptions were granted, the workers would be placed on medical leave, which may or may not include some portion of their pay, depending upon their union contract. Employees whose requests for religious exemptions were granted would be placed on indefinite unpaid leave but retain their seniority rights if they returned to the company at an unspecified time in the future.
NYC DOE to Allocate $11M to Plug Staffing Holes From Vaccine Mandate
The city Department of Education expects to shell out at least $11 million to fill staffing shortfalls caused by its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to budget documents.
All DOE workers were given until the beginning of last week to provide proof of vaccination. Those who refused the jab could choose to either be taken off payroll while retaining their health insurance or quit the DOE with a severance package.
The new funding memo shows that Staten Island schools are getting the most money — and thus have the highest rates of unvaccinated workers.
U.S. to Lift Canada, Mexico Land Border Restrictions in November for Vaccinated Visitors
The United States will lift restrictions at its land borders with Canada and Mexico for fully vaccinated foreign nationals in early November, ending historic curbs on non-essential travelers in place since March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new rules are similar but not identical to planned requirements announced last month for international air travelers, U.S. officials said in a call earlier with reporters.
Unvaccinated visitors will still be barred from entering the United States from Canada or Mexico at land borders.
Boeing Will Require All Employees to Be Vaccinated, Despite Wary Labor Unions and Conservative Opposition
Boeing management told its U.S. employees in an internal message Tuesday that with limited exceptions they must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8 or face termination.
“Compliance with these requirements is a condition of employment,” states a Boeing internal presentation viewed by The Seattle Times. “Employees who are unable to meet these requirements, and do not have an approved accommodation, by December 8 may be released from the company.”
The policy will apply to roughly 125,000 employees in the U.S., about 57,000 of them in Washington state.
Revealed: Facebook’s Secret Blacklist of ‘Dangerous Individuals and Organizations’
The restrictions appear to trace back to 2012, when in the face of growing alarm in Congress and the United Nations about online terrorist recruiting, Facebook added to its Community Standards a ban on “organizations with a record of terrorist or violent criminal activity.” This modest rule has since ballooned into what’s known as the Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy, a sweeping set of restrictions on what Facebook’s nearly 3 billion users can say about an enormous and ever-growing roster of entities deemed beyond the pale.
But as with other attempts to limit personal freedoms in the name of counterterrorism, Facebook’s DIO policy has become an unaccountable system that disproportionately punishes certain communities, critics say.
Italy’s Toughest-in-the-World COVID Vaccine Mandate Sparks Violent Protests
Central Rome was gripped with violence this weekend as thousands of protesters marched against the toughest new vaccine mandates in the world. All Italians will soon be required to show a coronavirus “Green Pass,” proving either vaccination, recovery in the past six months, or a negative COVID-19 test from the past 48 hours to enter their workplaces.
What started off as a restless but peaceful demonstration against the looming measure in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo ended up sparking a tinderbox when an offshoot of protesters stormed the headquarters of CGIL, Italy’s oldest and biggest labor union.
There Is No Bipartisan Consensus on Big Tech
Finally we’ve reached bipartisan consensus on Big Tech, yay everyone! At least that’s the line the press is echoing ad nauseum. “Facebook Whistleblower Reignites Bipartisan Support for Curbing Big Tech,” the Financial Times trumpeted last week after Frances Haugen’s Senate testimony on Facebook. “Lawmakers Send Big Tech a Bipartisan Antitrust Message,” Newsweek wrote a day later. For more than a year, but especially after last week’s U.S. Senate hearing, the media has been increasingly suggesting that Democrats and Republicans are setting aside their long-standing disagreements on tech policy.
But beyond their triumphant headlines, many of these articles note (often clumsily) that the “consensus” is merely an opinion that some kind of regulation for Big Tech is needed. This is where the idea of “bipartisan consensus” crumbles, and where the danger in this expression lies.
Archbishop: Catholic Troops Can Reject COVID Vaccine
Catholic U.S. troops should be allowed to reject the COVID-19 vaccine if taking it “would violate the sanctity” of their conscience, said Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy Broglio in a statement out Tuesday.
Why it matters: Broglio encouraged troops to get the vaccine, but acknowledged that some people have questioned whether the church’s position encouraging the shot “precludes an individual from forming a sincerely held religious belief that receiving the vaccine would violate his conscience.”
“It does not,” wrote the archbishop. Driving the news: The Pentagon mandated the vaccine for troops back in August, but many service members are still unvaccinated as deadlines approach.
NASA Employees Gather Outside Campus Tuesday in Opposition to Federal Vaccine Mandate
The debate continues over who has authority to require COVID-19 vaccines, as Governor Greg Abbott issued a new executive order banning all entities in the state from enforcing President Biden’s mandate.
The group of NASA employees, both civil servants and contractors, gathered outside of the campus Tuesday in opposition to President Biden’s Federal Mandate, which requires companies with 100 or more employees to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
France to Extend COVID State of Emergency Until July 31, Govt Says
The French government will ask lawmakers to extend its pandemic state of emergency until July 31 next year to deal with the continuing coronavirus crisis, spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday.
The state of emergency extension would mean that the government will keep the power to extend or reinstate restrictive measures such as the use of a health pass to gain access to venues such as restaurants, bars and cinemas.
These Are Health Insurance Options if You’re Fired for Refusing to Get a COVID Vaccine
Thousands of workers across the country have been fired for refusing to comply with an employer’s COVID vaccine requirements — and may now wonder how to replace their workplace health insurance.
There are a few options. They’re the same ones available to anyone who loses a job, even for a non-vaccine-related reason, according to health experts.
Home Quarantine Apps Spark Privacy Fears Over Facial Recognition and Geolocation Technology
Apps used to ensure overseas arrivals are complying with home quarantine requirements as part of Australia’s opening up need stronger privacy protections, technology and human rights groups have told state and federal health ministers.
South Australia is the only jurisdiction actively trialling home quarantining technology using a government-built app called Home Quarantine SA. The app randomly alerts users to verify their location and send a selfie back to authorities within 15 minutes to prove they are at the home they have registered to quarantine at.
The Human Rights Law Centre and Digital Rights Watch have written to the health ministers in each state and territory, as well as the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, expressing concern about the use of facial recognition technology and location information without stronger privacy protections in place.
Religious Vaccine Exemption Stays for NY Healthcare Workers + More
Religious Vaccine Exemption Stays for NY Healthcare Workers
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that New York must continue to allow healthcare workers to seek exemptions from a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds as a lawsuit challenging the requirement proceeds.
Judge David Hurd in Utica had issued a temporary restraining order a month ago after 17 doctors, nurses and other health professionals claimed in a lawsuit that their rights would be violated with a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions.
Hurd’s preliminary injunction Tuesday means New York will continue to be barred from enforcing any requirement that employers deny religious exemptions.
Southwest CEO Says He Never Wanted a COVID Vaccine Mandate but Biden Forced His Hand
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly told CNBC on Tuesday he believes businesses should not impose COVID vaccine mandates on their employees, but he said his company is doing so to comply with federal rules put in place by the Biden administration.
Kelly’s comments Tuesday come as Southwest faces heat for widespread flight cancellations in recent days and Monday’s sharp decline in the company’s stock price.
From Saturday through Monday Southwest scrapped about 2,200 flights, with more than half that number on Sunday alone.
Texas Gov. Abbott Issues Order Banning COVID Vaccination Mandates in Rebuke of Biden
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Monday prohibiting any entity, including private businesses, from imposing COVID-19 vaccination requirements on employees or customers.
“The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and our best defense against the virus, but should remain voluntary and never forced,” Abbott said in a statement.
Southwest, American Airlines Workers Will Have to Get Vaccinated, Despite Texas Order
Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, both based in Texas, said Tuesday that they will continue plans to require employees to get vaccinated, despite an edict issued by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that would ban vaccine mandates for private businesses in the state.
“Federal action supersedes any state mandate or law, and we would be expected to comply with the President’s Order to remain compliant as a federal contractor,” Southwest said in a statement to POLITICO, referencing the Biden administration‘s requirement that government contractors be vaccinated by Dec. 8.
Facing Staffing Shortages, Baker Activates Massachusetts National Guard to Assist With COVID Testing in Public Schools
The Boston Globe via MSN reported:
In response to staffing shortages that caused COVID-19 testing delays in many Massachusetts school districts, Governor Charlie Baker activated up to 200 members of the National Guard on Tuesday to assist with testing in public K-12 schools, according to an administration spokesperson.
Though more than 2,200 public and private schools have signed up to participate in at least one of the state’s three coronavirus testing programs, only about 1,350 had reported testing data as of Oct. 7.
Guard members will begin training for COVID-19 testing in schools this week and are set to begin assisting with testing in schools on Monday.
Parent Sues Wisconsin School District After Son Gets COVID, Allegedly From Classmate
A parent has sued a southeastern Wisconsin school district after her son contracted COVID-19 from a classmate.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Shannon Jensen filed the lawsuit in federal court against the Waukesha School District and school board on Oct. 5. Jensen is seeking an injunction ordering the district to comply with U.S. Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 guidelines.
The Truth About COVID Vaccine Exemptions
Medical and religious exemptions are front and center as President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate takes effect, affecting over 100 million public and private sector workers.
People hoping to avoid vaccination are taking drastic steps to avoid vaccination. Two-thirds of people refusing to get vaccinated are even willing to quit their job to avoid vaccination.
Society standards deem vaccine exemptions based on religion or medical conditions as acceptable. Yet, a closer look at them indicates that they lack substance and sinew.
A COVID Vaccine Mandate Won’t Force Staff at This Rural Missouri Hospital to Get the Shot, CEO Says. It Will Make Them Quit.
Dr. Randy Tobler, CEO of Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Missouri, has struggled to retain staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, losing 10 of his 57 nurses in the main hospital and three rural health clinics.
So Tobler can’t afford to alienate any more healthcare workers, but he believes a COVID-19 vaccine mandate could do just that. Such a requirement won’t make his unvaccinated staff get the shot, he says. It will make them quit.
Power Shifts From Big Tech as Digital Crackdowns Intensify
Internet freedom around the world has dropped for the 11th consecutive year, according to an annual report from Freedom House, a non-profit focused on expanding freedom and democracy.
Why it matters: The findings suggest that a broader shift in power from tech companies to nation states over the past year has resulted in “a record-breaking crackdown” on freedom of expression online.
Details: The report finds that government officials in 56 of the 70 countries measured have arrested or convicted people for their speech online. (The 70 countries measured account for 88% of the world’s internet users.)
Fauci Says He Doesn’t Expect a Vaccine Mandate for Domestic Air Travel ‘Immediately’
The Washington Post via Yahoo!News reported:
Amid a growing push for passengers on domestic flights to show proof of vaccination, top infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci said he doesn’t see it happening in the near future.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The Washington Post last month that he would support a vaccine mandate for domestic flights if President Joe Biden wanted to move forward with one.
Florida Fines Key County $3.5 Million for Mandating Vaccines
The county government that is home to Florida’s capital was fined $3.5 million on Tuesday by state health officials for requiring its employees to get COVID-19 vaccines and for firing 14 workers who failed to get the shots.
The Florida Department of Health issued the fine for Leon County, saying the municipality violated Florida’s “vaccine passport” law, which prohibits businesses and governments from requiring people to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
Big Tech Sweeps up Hill Staffers — Just When Congress Needs Them the Most
Silicon Valley and the telecom industry are snatching up some of the top Democratic policy experts on Capitol Hill — just as Congress gears up for fights with the companies.It comes as lawmakers are debating House antitrust bills aimed at defanging Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon, as well as proposals for the first comprehensive federal law on data privacy, and strategies for competing with China in technologies like 5G and regulations for reviving net neutrality for internet providers.
UCLA Doctor ‘Willing to Lose Everything’ Escorted From Work for Refusing COVID Vaccine + More
UCLA Doctor ‘Willing to Lose Everything’ Escorted From Work for Refusing COVID Vaccine
An anesthesiologist at UCLA Health in California who has not shied away from airing his suspicions about COVID-19 vaccines was escorted out of his workplace this week for refusing to get vaccinated in defiance of a statewide and employer mandate, according to local reports and a video posted on Twitter.
“This is what happens when you stand up for freedom and when you show up to work, willing to work, despite being unvaccinated, and this is the price you have to pay sometimes,” Rake is heard saying in the video posted Tuesday by The Beverly Hills Courier staff writer Samuel Braslow. “But what they don’t realize is that I’m willing to go lose everything — job, paycheck, freedom, even my life for this cause.”
Biden Calls on More U.S. Businesses to Require COVID Vaccinations
President Joe Biden on Thursday said more U.S. businesses should obligate workers to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, calling the move vital to ending the pandemic and sustaining the economy.
“Today I’m calling on more employers to act,” Biden said.
Are We Losing Our Humanity to Big Tech?
When Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp went offline earlier this week, proving just how reliant on social media we’ve become, it set an ironic stage for the release of Dave Eggers’s new dystopian novel, The Every.
A follow-up to 2013’s The Circle, the new book takes place approximately 10 years in the future, when the world’s largest search engine and social media company merges with the leading e-commerce site (Amazon) to form the Every, the wealthiest, most powerful, and, subsequently, most dangerous monopoly of all time.
A contemporary answer to George Orwell’s 1984, it’s a prescient — and hilarious — meditation on the rise of tech giants and how our blind trust in them could ultimately be our demise.
UC Irvine Director of Medical Ethics Placed on ‘Investigatory Leave’ Over Challenge to Vaccine Mandate
The University of California, Irvine has placed their Director of Medical Ethics, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, on ‘investigatory leave’ after he challenged the constitutionality of the UC’s vaccine mandate in regards to individuals who have recovered from COVID and have naturally acquired immunity.
Last month Kheriaty, also a Professor of Psychiatry at UCI School of Medicine, filed a suit in Federal court over the mandate.
“Natural immunity following COVID infection is equal to (indeed, superior to) vaccine-mediated immunity. Thus, forcing those with natural immunity to be vaccinated introduces unnecessary risks without commensurate benefits — either to individuals or to the population as a whole — and violates their equal protection rights guaranteed under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment,” Kheriaty wrote in a Sep. 21 blog post.
Florida Board of Education Votes to Withhold Funds From School Districts That Enforce COVID Mask Mandates
The Florida Board of Education voted unanimously on Thursday to financially sanction eight school districts that enforced mask mandates in their schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These district mask policies, which adhere to federal guidance, go against state rules that require parents to have the “sole discretion” in whether their children wear masks to school.
The decision was made at Thursday’s meeting after board members weighed comments from the public, superintendents and board officials about whether districts for Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Duval, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange and Palm Beach counties were in compliance with the state’s rules.
Americans Need a Bill of Rights for an AI-Powered World
In the past decade, data-driven technologies have transformed the world around us. We’ve seen what’s possible by gathering large amounts of data and training artificial intelligence to interpret it: computers that learn to translate languages, facial recognition systems that unlock our smartphones, algorithms that identify cancers in patients. The possibilities are endless.
But these new tools have also led to serious problems. What machines learn depends on many things — including the data used to train them.
Should Your Vaccination Status Be On Your Resume? Here’s What Experts Say
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has raised many questions about where and how we work, but one question has become more pressing for job seekers in recent months: do they need to include their COVID-19 vaccination status on their resume?
ResumeBuilder.com interviewed 1,250 hiring managers in August and found that 33% would automatically eliminate resumes that don’t include a COVID-19 vaccination status. On top of that, 69% of hiring managers said they are more likely to hire someone who has already been vaccinated against COVID-19, and 63% said they prefer to see a job candidate’s vaccination status on their resume.
Delta Partners With TSA on Face Biometrics, Emirates and Sita Discuss Aviation Trends
Delta has recently partnered with the U.S. Transport Security Administration (TSA) to deploy face biometrics to streamline check-in and security in Atlanta, while Emirates suggested airline passengers will have to wear masks for at least two more years. Also, SITA argues for health credential checks to be integrated into travel ecosystems all around the globe.
Thanks to the new partnership, passengers will be able to go through security checks at airports in Atlanta without a paper boarding pass or a physical government ID credential.
Instead, after registering via the TSA app and confirming their identity, customers will be able to have their faces scanned via facial verification cameras at the airport.
Why Lawsuits Against COVID Vaccine Mandates Will Likely Fail: Experts
From teachers to airlines workers, some employees who have faced termination for not complying with their company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates have gone to court to fight the decisions.
Some of the plaintiffs, such as New York City Department of Education employees, a handful of Los Angeles county public employees and United Airlines workers, have argued that the mandates should be removed, questioning the rules’ constitutionality and some contending their religious rights weren’t observed.
So far, these arguments have not swayed judges who have almost all ruled in favor of the employer, or not issued long injunctions while they hear the case. And legal experts tell ABC News they don’t expect different outcomes in courtrooms anytime soon.
American Airlines Sets Deadline for U.S.-Based Employees to Submit Proof of COVID Vaccination
A deadline is now in place for all U.S.-based team members of American Airlines to submit proof of being vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to a letter acquired by WCNC Charlotte, the deadline to submit proof of full vaccination is no later than Wednesday, Nov. 24. American, being classified as a government contractor, is required to follow the federal vaccine mandate that was put in place by President Joe Biden in September.
“To be clear, if you fail to comply with the requirement, the result will be termination from the company,” read a portion of the letter.