Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, said on Thursday that it would not try to compel its nearly 4 million drivers worldwide to get the COVID-19 vaccine
Uber will not require its drivers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 even though it has mandated the shot for its corporate office-based staff.
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, said on Thursday that it would not try to compel its nearly 4 million drivers worldwide - 1 million of whom are in the United States - to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Instead, he said it was up to government agencies and not private companies to impose a mandate.
‘When you get to the numbers in the hundreds of millions, which is what we’re talking about as far as riders and drivers go, to put that responsibility, that kind of decision making power, on a company I don’t think is right,’ Khosrowshahi told CNBC on Thursday.
‘I think these mandates, if they’re pushed, should be pushed by local or federal governments and that’s really the direction that we’re going with.
‘And then whatever mandate is put forward, we are doing our best to support.’
Khosrowshahi said it was an ‘easy call’ to require vaccines for Uber’s thousands of corporate staff.
‘You’re spending time together in an office, eight hours a day, 10 hours a day,’ he said.
That means ‘it would only be fair to require vaccines for both riders and drivers.’
Uber is requiring its corporate staff to get vaccinated, but it will not extend the mandate to drivers
As of Thursday, 58 percent of the US population has received at least one dose and just under 50 percent are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Instead of having the company mandate vaccines, Uber’s boss said it would be better to keep encouraging drivers and riders alike to voluntarily get the shot.
‘We think that the push, which we completely support, should be for the government to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible so we can get back to life,’ he said.
‘Based on circumstances we’re seeing now, we think the best path forward is for us and the government, and we’ve certainly played our part, to push vaccinations ... to really get the vaccination rates up, we think that’s the best way forward.’
Last week, an Uber spokesperson said that all office-based employees would be required to return to their work stations beginning in October.
In April, Uber said it expected its employees to return to office by September 13, but it pushed back the date to late October in light of the surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the Indian Delta variant.
San Francisco-based ride-hailing company Lyft Inc has also postponed its reopening to February from September.
Experts say that Uber could mandate a vaccine for its drivers if it wanted to.
Ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft are still requiring drivers and passengers to wear masks while using their services.
Uber makes drivers upload a mask-wearing selfie into the app before they can pick up a passenger.
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