The company appears reluctant to mandate a vaccine outright and hopes that a potential paycheck cut will convince holdouts to get their shot.
(Bloomberg Opinion) –Delta Air Lines Inc. announced Wednesday that it would impose a $200 monthly surcharge on employees who aren't inoculated against Covid-19, pioneering an alternative to the vaccine mandates issued by other corporations as they seek to limit the spread of the highly contagious delta variant while reopening. Here, Max Nisen — who covers health care and the pharmaceutical industry for Bloomberg Opinion — answers questions about Delta's move. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
Why is Delta doing this?
Like other companies and governments, Delta Air Lines is confronting the highly transmissible delta virus variant, which means that its 75% vaccination rate will not be enough to keep employees safe and avoid disruption to its business. The company appears reluctant to mandate a vaccine outright and hopes that a potential paycheck cut will convince holdouts to get their shot.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
