Live data from Hacker News

Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

npr.org

451–460 of 722 posts

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#451
post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Citation needed? https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/sta... There is an example. There has been a proliferation of for-profit companies offering health-related services which aren't counted as healthcare providers which a freely selling and distributing personal data for profit, to law enforcement, and accidentally because they are "not medicine" but in reality they are indeed collecting data ab…

You expressly allow that sharing of information when you use that service. Also anonymizes healthcare data is neigh impossible to reconstruct so I don’t understand your claim. Do you have any proof?

it has been repeatedly shown that deanonymized healthcare data is not hard to reconstruct. HIPAA defines a series of identifiers that have to be scrubbed, but it's not enough to prevent reidentification by a motivated adversary.

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#452

I work at google and am vaxxed but this pisses me off. I decided that the vaccine was worth the risk and for the best overall but if someone makes a different calculus I can understand and respect that. IMHO they gone way outside the reasonable scope of an employer - this is a cultural decision at the society level - why the fuck does my employer give a shit about this. Unless the employees are only commuting back an…

> “I decided the risk was worth it” It’s funny though how you say this phrase for a vaccine and not for the hundreds of other riskier situations you face daily. “I drove a car…risk was worth it I decided”. It sounds a bit self-important. Vaccines are just something you do. For me it was not a decision. It’s an interesting exploration in psychology where people oppose something mostly because they are told to do it. L…

"For me it was not a decision."

To my eyes, this kind of mindlessness, being encouraged on a vast scale, is more dangerous than any virus.

You really think its cool to take a new medical procedure without thinking?

"How sweet to be an idiot."

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#453

I’ve typed out 3 comments to 3 separate people before deleting them. I didn’t see the point. Folks, it’s a good idea to heed dang’s warning at the top of the thread. I’ve read all the comments and can confidently say there’s nothing worth reading here. Just people absolutely convinced of their ideas and principles, shouting past each other. Nothing we haven’t seen on this topic 50 times before. You’re better off goin…

"dang" should be the one going for a walk. If you're going to let anti-vax nutjobs run rampant on your platform, why get upset when this causes problems? Of course the bigger issue it that HN's target audience is the libertarian/alt-right (who are nutjobs on multiple issues), so he has to "both sides" it so it doesn't appear they're being catered to

What do you propose to do with `anti-vax nutjobs`? They won't listen to you after reading the comment, which you try to completely dismiss and dehumanize them.

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#454
post #225
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to pass a background check to start work at Google, my employer before Google, and my employer after. If anything that was much more intrusive than "prove you're vaccinated".

This goes back to the generally weak worker protections in the US. Background checks are a pretty hostile approach for most jobs, since after all it is assumed that the person which was convicted paid their debt to society. Sure, for certain kinds of positions like working as a lawyer or in a bank, or working with kids perhaps it makes sense, but for programmers working on consumer and B2B software it's a stretch. In…

The Google background check (along with other employers) verify your claimed credentials (sadly people like about phds). The folks doing it aren't particularly capable, though, I've had to correct errors they made in my check (basic stuff like working at a company for two distinct time periods).

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a choice though. You could just get vaccinated and not worry about getting fired.

"just get vaccinated and not worry about getting fired" The word 'just' must be one of the most heavily used words of the last 18 months. The problem is that 'just' is the start of a slippery slope. Governments and organisations rarely withdraw authoritarian diktats, once we've allowed them in.

The vaccine has an overwhelming amount of data showing it's effective, and very little showing side effects. At some point it's a national responsibility to get it. If you don't, then there's nothing that says you should have a job at faang.

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#456

I work at google and am vaxxed but this pisses me off. I decided that the vaccine was worth the risk and for the best overall but if someone makes a different calculus I can understand and respect that. IMHO they gone way outside the reasonable scope of an employer - this is a cultural decision at the society level - why the fuck does my employer give a shit about this. Unless the employees are only commuting back an…

what's your ldap? I'd like to share it with some of my friends.

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#457
post #179

I work at google and am vaxxed but this pisses me off. I decided that the vaccine was worth the risk and for the best overall but if someone makes a different calculus I can understand and respect that. IMHO they gone way outside the reasonable scope of an employer - this is a cultural decision at the society level - why the fuck does my employer give a shit about this. Unless the employees are only commuting back an…

There is a counter point to yours, just as valid, where folks don’t want to be around unvaccinated folks. Maybe they have an immunocompromised relative or child at home. Maybe they don’t feel safe with unvaccinated folks around. This is a game of odds. People keep acting like this is binary. You’re statistically more likely to have and spread covid without the vaccine. I would be delighted if my employer enforced thi…

There was a time in history, where people were not feeling safe around certain group of other people. These other people ended up in gas chambers because of mass hysteria around accusations made towards them by officials and mass media. I fear this is where we are heading now, as a society who should be learning on horrible lessons from our history.

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#458
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Being vaccinated isn't a perfect defense, but it reduces the risk to you of getting the disease, it drastically reduces the risk to you of dying from the disease or suffering long term life altering consequences from it, and it lowers the risk of you spreading it to others." The general guidance hasn't changed. The risk to each other has gone up as Delta spreads, because it's more dangerous. There will probably be o…

"it's incredibly harmless" The two healthy middle-aged people I know who have died within 24hrs of vaccination would beg to differ.

please stop lying/distorting reality. You have absolutely zero proof that what you observed has to do with the vaccine.

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#459
post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company also has the right to fire you.

Philosophically or legally? I’m fully aware that US has weak worker laws, but in Europe you can’t fire people based on whim.

Employees at Google are mostly at-will. Google can fire them any time, although typically, they produce a 6+ month performance record with failure to do job before terminating (mostly to protect against lawsuits). However, Google has terminated people on the spot, with cause. The government will back Google firing people for not being vaccinated.

Re: Google and Facebook mandate vaccines for employees at U.S. offices

#460

I’ve typed out 3 comments to 3 separate people before deleting them. I didn’t see the point. Folks, it’s a good idea to heed dang’s warning at the top of the thread. I’ve read all the comments and can confidently say there’s nothing worth reading here. Just people absolutely convinced of their ideas and principles, shouting past each other. Nothing we haven’t seen on this topic 50 times before. You’re better off goin…

It's typical. Entire pro-vax threads are allowed, but as soon as someone presents a different point of view the thread is locked and 'problematic' posts removed.
Post reply on HN