Over 600 Google employees have signed a petition calling on the company to remove its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
As it stands, all Google employees are required to inform the company of their vaccination status before December 3. This applies to all 150,000 US workers, whether or not they work in the office.
The petition asks all employees to “oppose the mandate as a matter of principle” saying that what Google does has an impact on the actions of smaller companies.
“I believe that Sundar [Pichai]’s Vaccine Mandate is deeply flawed,” the petition states, saying it acts in “barring unvaccinated Googlers from the office publicly and possibly embarrassingly exposes a private choice as it would be difficult for the Googler not to reveal why they cannot return.”
“Such Googlers may never feel comfortable expressing their true sentiments about a company health policy and other, unrelated sensitive topics.
“This results in silenced perspective and exacerbates the internal ideological ‘echo chamber’ which folks both inside and outside of Google have observed for years.”
“I do not believe Google should be privy to the health and medical history of Googlers and the vaccination status is no exception.
“It normalises medical intervention compulsion not only for Covid-19 vaccination but for future vaccines and possibly even non-vaccine interventions by extension.
“It justifies the principle of division and unequal treatment of Googlers based on their personal beliefs and decisions. The implications are chilling. Due to its presence as an industry leader, Google’s mandate will influence companies around the world to consider these as acceptable tradeoffs.”
A spokesperson for Google said:
“As we’ve stated to all our employees and the author of this document, our vaccination requirements are one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe and keep our services running..
“We firmly stand behind our vaccination policy.”
