Netflix is set to make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for both cast and crew on TV and film productions that take place in the US
According to reports, the US streaming company Netflix will require that “zone A” personnel, actors and crew in close contact with them, must get the vaccine.
Other firms, including Google have said that their workers must get vaccinated before they return to the office.
The policy will begin at the company’s US campuses and then will be rolled out globally for all of its 144,000 employees.
Netflix has implemented the move following new standards recently having been agreed to between Hollywood unions and the studios that would be allowing companies to implement a mandatory vaccination policy for key members of both the cast and crew.
However, the actor Sean Penn has said that he wants the policy to be extended for all members of Film and TV production, and not just those that are classed as “zone A”.
He recently said that he would not be returning to work on the drama Gaslit, which is being backed by the studio NBC Universal, unless all members of cast and crew receive the vaccine.
This comes after students at University in the UK could need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to be able to attend lectures and stay in student halls this coming in this academic year.
Netflix is making the new move following the US Disease Control and Prevention announcing earlier in the week that masks will once again be required to be worn indoors even by people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
It follows a spike in Covid cases due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
In a blog post, the chief executive of Google, Sundar Pichai, said that “anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated”.
How this policy will be implemented “will vary according to local conditions and regulations, and will not apply until vaccines are widely available in your area”, he said.
In addition, Google will be extending the full reopening of its global campuses from the 1st of September up until the 18th of October, as a result of a spike in cases due to the Delta variant of COVID-19.
People who are in special circumstances will be able to apply to work from home up until the end of 2021.
However, any employee at Google can apply to work from home permanently if they choose to, and can also transfer offices.
Google expects that over time in any given week, 60% of their employees will be working in the office for a few days each week, with one-fifth working within new office locations, as well as another fifth of employees working from home.
Many businesses are currently weighing up the pros and cons of letting their workforce continue to work from home.
This comes after two-thirds of adults within the UK have now received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, the health secretary has announced. Sajid Javid has said on Twitter: “Two-thirds of adults across the UK have now had two jabs.
Others have also specified that workers coming into the office need to be vaccinated.
In June, the Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury said that all staff must receive vaccinations before they return to their workplace.
“The simple fact is that this virus is still extremely dangerous,” it said.
In the US, JP Morgan said in June that it would be instructing their staff to log their vaccination status on a web portal internally, with fully-vaccinated employees being allowed to discard their face masks at work.
Goldman Sachs bankers have also reportedly had to disclose how many jabs they have had before returning to the office.
