(Reuters) – Gilead Sciences Inc said on Monday it will require all its employees and contractors in the United States to become vaccinated against COVID-19.
The biotech company’s move comes less than a week after U.S. drugmaker Pfizer said all its U.S. workers would need to get vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing.
All Gilead U.S. employees will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Oct. 1, where allowed by law and where the vaccine supply is readily available, the company said in a statement.
With U.S. coronavirus cases rising sharply again due to the highly transmissible Delta variant, companies like Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc and Walt Disney Inc have started putting vaccine mandates in place for their employees.
For employees with religious beliefs or medical conditions that prevent them from getting vaccinated, Gilead said it will offer an appropriate accommodations review process.
As of Sunday, 50.1% of the U.S. population had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
