Covid: Hundreds of Google staff sign petition against compulsory vaccines

More than 600 Google staff have signed a petition against the company's plans to introduce compulsory Covid jabs for employees wanting to return to the office and some of those working from home.

Some US staff sent round a document explaining their issues to Google's vaccination policies, which is to require all 150,000 of its employees to declare their vaccine status by December 3.

Every Google employee will have to disclose their vaccination status to the tech company, irrespective of whether they work from home or in the office.

In the petition against revealing jab status, Google employees said: “I believe Sundar’s Vaccine Mandate is deeply flawed.”

The letter goes on: “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.”

“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 Google spokesman responded: “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.”