Millions of employees were on Friday told the “reality” is some companies in the UK will demand staff are double jabbed before they return to workplaces.
Cabinet minister Grant Shapps also stressed that it was a “good idea” for people to get the vaccine before going back to their offices and other work centres.
Bosses imposing such an employment condition is controversial given it will force some workers to have the jab against their will.
The more staff who are vaccinated, though, the greater the protection for them and their colleagues, and customers in some cases.
With far more employees expected to go back to the office in September, Mr Shapps told LBC Radio: “It’s a reality that for some companies, they will say ‘we need our staff now to be double vaccinated’, either depending on their business or in the case I think Google, obviously a US company, in the US they have much, much more vaccine hesitancy.”
Asked earlier if it was a good idea for people to have the two vaccine doses before they return to the office, Mr Shapps told Sky News: “We are not going to make that legislation that every adult has to be double vaccinated before they go back to the office, but yes it is a good idea and yes some companies will require it.”
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Thursday voiced support for companies requiring staff to be double-jabbed.
US companies Netflix, Google and Facebook are rolling out a policy which will require all staff to be vaccinated once their workplaces are fully re-opened.
Mr Raab said: “I can understand why employers think that that would be a smart policy or approach to encourage, whether or not there should be hard and fast legal rules I think we need to look at carefully.”
