Big tech companies to allow only vaccinated US staff into offices

Google and Facebook on Wednesday said workers returning to offices will need to be vaccinated against Covid-19, in the latest move by firms and US government agencies.

Spikes in infections due to a Delta variant of the virus have ramped up concerns in the United States, where 611,000 people have died in the pandemic.

Google will make campuses off-limits to unvaccinated employees and extend its global work-from-home option through October 18, according to chief executive Sundar Pichai.


"Anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated," Pichai said in a blog post.

"We're rolling this policy out in the United States in the coming weeks and will expand to other regions in the coming months."

Google and Facebook were among companies worldwide that abandoned campuses early last year, letting people work remotely rather than risk exposure to Covid-19 in offices.

"Even as the virus continues to surge in many parts of the world, it's encouraging to see very high vaccination rates for our Google community in areas where vaccines are widely available," Pichai said. "This is a big reason why we felt comfortable opening some of our offices to employees who wanted to return early."

Tech titan Facebook put out similar word on Wednesday, saying that as its offices re-open, only vaccinated workers will be welcomed.

"We will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated," Facebook vice president of people Lori Goler said in response to an AFP inquiry. AFP