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All salaried and non-union hourly Disney employees in the United States will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19, The Walt Disney Co. said Friday.
Staffers working at any of the company’s sites must be fully vaccinated. Employees who aren’t already vaccinated and are working on-site will have 60 days to get the jab, the company said. Proof of vaccination will be required and all new employees must be vaccinated.
Talks with the unions about the requirement are underway. “At The Walt Disney Company, the safety and well-being of our employees during the pandemic has been and continues to be a top priority. Vaccines are the best tool we all have to help control this global pandemic and protect our employees,” read Disney’s statement.
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The news comes as Disney pumped the brakes on lifting pandemic restrictions at its domestic theme parks, once again requiring all staff and guests to wear masks — regardless of vaccination status — while indoors at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
The updates come as COVID-19 cases are skyrocketing in parts of the country due to the highly contagious delta variant. Large employers, including Google, Facebook and Walmart, have unveiled vaccination policies for employees in the past week.
On July 28, Netflix disclosed that it was making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory on its U.S. film and TV projects in Zone A of sets, the part of the set where actors work. Netflix’s policy change occurred days after Hollywoods major studios and guilds released new set safety protocols July 19, including giving producers “the option to implement mandatory vaccination policies for casts and crew in Zone A on a production-by-production basis.”
Disney World has been opened since 2020. Disneyland reopened April 30. Since that time, the daily capacity has been increased as state restrictions were eased. However, all guests still need to make a reservation in addition to purchasing a ticket.
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