Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

511–520 of 722 posts

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

#511

Post by randomsearch »

gdubs wrote: post #502
randomsearch wrote: post #267

[FWIW, I disagree with mandatory vaccination] Unsure about anyone else, but I have been very much taken by surprise by the level of anti-vax and anti-lockdown sentiment during the pandemic. I'd have expected _some_ of the behaviour we're seeing, but not on this scale. In the UK we've seen huge "freedom marches", which are literally mass acts of disobedience against public health policies designed to save the lives of…

> will people react to climate change getting worse by actively adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere? Rolling Coal is/was a thing and it was exactly that: emitting pollution as a form of anti-environmentalism. See a Toyota Prius behind you? Hit them with a cloud of smog. 1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_coal

Wow. Exactly the kind of thing I imagined, and yet it _still_ surprises me.

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

#512

Post by meiraleal »

rantwasp wrote: post #102
mrfusion wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re pretty certain you know the real truth. Must be nice.

okay. i’ll bite. what’s the “real” truth?

by your first comment, it seems you already believe the real truth is the one you bought, only. the rest is post-true. Funny thing is that your reasoning is exactly what post truth means.

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

#513

Post by thinkingemote »

Marcus9 wrote: post #492
WhyNotHugo wrote: post #474

This is extremely shady. I'm in complete favour of vaccination, but I'm amazed that it's even legal for an employer in the US to ask such specific details about one's medical history. My employer doesn't need to know what vaccines I've taken, or anything else from my medical record, unless I decide to share it. Mind you, I'll still tell my team "I'll be about this morning for vaccination". But there's a difference be…

It's weird to pretend this is about "one's medical history" when it's clearly about minimizing risk of harm to others. People need to accept the reality that spreading a disease is causing harm, and that preventing people from causing harm is a core function of the rules of society. Spreading disease is unique- unlike assault or robbery or rape or murder it doesn't require the harmer to intend to cause harm, so many…

If your are interested in how words change over time, consider how "harm" has changed in the last few years.

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

#514

Post by [deleted] »

avh02 wrote: post #281
oldcigarette wrote: post #90

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 i think people forget is that this isn't (IMO) about what the company wants or whatever, it's about the fact that offices are a nasty space where everybody breathes everybody's air - and diseases simply don't give a crap about where that happens. I'm pretty sure if google were an outdoor office complex where everybody sat 10 meters apart from each other they wouldn't give a crap about your vaccination status. If…

[deleted]

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

#515

Post by raxxorrax »

WhyNotHugo wrote: post #474

This is extremely shady. I'm in complete favour of vaccination, but I'm amazed that it's even legal for an employer in the US to ask such specific details about one's medical history. My employer doesn't need to know what vaccines I've taken, or anything else from my medical record, unless I decide to share it. Mind you, I'll still tell my team "I'll be about this morning for vaccination". But there's a difference be…

If your company forces you, it should be liable for any possible damage a vaccine might cause. Same should be true for health workers obviously.

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

#516

Post by tored »

dekhn wrote: post #459
tored wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The takeaway is that the general left now is for firing employees for political or medical reasons, when historically they were against. Why that is, at least in Europe, is because the left is no longer majority working class, it is majority middle class.

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

#517

Post by sennight »

f6v wrote: post #508
sennight wrote: post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...aaand one day later the CDC says the direct opposite in order to justify a new mask mandate, citing unreleased but super scary and definitely trustworthy data. https://web.archive.org/web/20210729042140/https://www.washi...

Don’t have to listen to CDC then, can trust the data that is already published.

> Don’t have to listen to CDC then...

heh, yeah - that'll work out great I'm sure. "You don't understand, officer! According to the published research..."

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

#518

Post by d4mi3n »

ddvvff wrote: post #259
d4mi3n wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m all for getting everyone vaccinated as well, but I’d be really concerned about the precedent this sets. The reasons governments are reluctant to do this is they it sets a precedent for them to dictate what a person can do with their bodies. Saying someone must have an injection, regardless of how well intentioned it is, requires you to be able to dictate what goes into their body. Pretty much the same set of powe…

What do you think of abortion? I agree about body autonomy but it frustrates me to no end to see woman asking for this basic right, even when their lives depend on it and it being denied, sterilization is also not easy to obtain for a woman. But then comes someone who is scared about potential side effects to a vaccine in the middle of a pandemic crisis, so much so that they're willing to risk their peers and they co…

I absolutely agree, which is my primary concern with enforcing vaccination uptake. I have trouble picturing a world where we can have those rights remain strong while also forcing folks to be vaccinated.

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

#519

Post by raxxorrax »

Marcus9 wrote: post #492
WhyNotHugo wrote: post #474

This is extremely shady. I'm in complete favour of vaccination, but I'm amazed that it's even legal for an employer in the US to ask such specific details about one's medical history. My employer doesn't need to know what vaccines I've taken, or anything else from my medical record, unless I decide to share it. Mind you, I'll still tell my team "I'll be about this morning for vaccination". But there's a difference be…

It's weird to pretend this is about "one's medical history" when it's clearly about minimizing risk of harm to others. People need to accept the reality that spreading a disease is causing harm, and that preventing people from causing harm is a core function of the rules of society. Spreading disease is unique- unlike assault or robbery or rape or murder it doesn't require the harmer to intend to cause harm, so many…

In any free society you need consent of the governed. And especially on the topic of security, there are a lot of diverging opinions.

Does abortion cause harm to human life? Not wanting to enflame anything, but I don't think there are easy answers here. Especially in this case and the danger Covid poses, I believe mandatory vaccination isn't justified by a security argument.

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

#520

Post by s1artibartfast »

throwaway9980 wrote: post #50
epicureanideal wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if others are already vaccinated, how does an unvaccinated coworker infect a vaccinated coworker?

The same way that my friend who is vaccinated was infected by his unvaccinated wife. Close quarters with an infected person is going to increase risk for some one who is vaccinated. The Pfizer vaccine is 38% effective [1] at preventing infection on average . It’s obvious that spending 8 hours next to someone who is actively infectious will reduce that efficacy rate. [1] for the Delta variant, which at this point is w…

38% is for the delta variant and a single shot. For the recommended 2 shots, protection from the delta is 88% compared to 93% for the alpha.
Post reply on HN