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Increasing numbers of companies are requiring their employees be vaccinated against Covid-19. Despite scientists and medics saying that vaccines are the best way to protect yourself from serious illness following infection, some people remain reluctant. However, governments and companies are putting more pressure on people to have these and a growing list of firms say they want their staff to be vaccinated.

Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms has delayed its US office reopening and mandated booster doses for all employees returning to their desks. Unvaccinated staff at JP Morgan Chase's New York office has been told they risk losing their jobs, and Ikea in the UK has said that unvaccinated workers who have to self-isolate because they've been in contact with a positive case will not get full pay while they're off sick. This raises many moral, reputational and legal questions for companies.

Richard Fox, an employment lawyer with the UK law firm Kingsley Napley, assesses the legal picture. He says they have always advised that mandates are risky, as employees have a range of claims that they could bring, such as a "religion and belief" claim. However, when the Delta variant was peaking in the US in the summer of 2020, big corporations changed in the way they approached vaccine mandates.

Photo: An office team takes precautions against Covid Credit: Getty Images

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