Fox News requires employees to provide vaccination status

The CEO of Fox News sent a memo to staff on Tuesday including several updates to its COVID-19 protocol, one of which required employees to input their vaccination status.

Back in June, the news outlet issued a memo encouraging fully vaccinated staff to include their vaccination status into Workday. The memo noted at the time that employees who might be vaccinated but had not provided that information to the company would be considered unvaccinated under their policies.

In the memo issued on Tuesday and obtained by AdWeek, Suzanne Scott told employees that they would be required to input their vaccination status by the end of that day. The policy pertains to both on site employees and remote workers. 

Additionally, Scott noted that select employees in their New York offices would be required to do COVID-19 testing at least one each week, regardless of their vaccination status. The memo also included protocol regarding masking procedures and COVID-19 screening. 

Scott noted that these procedures were in place in light of the spread of the delta variant and a higher number of COVID-19 cases.

When asked about the internal memo, a spokesperson for Fox News pointed The Hill back to the AdWeek story.

The memo comes as businesses and cities try to find ways to safely reopen or stay open and avoid shutdowns. The rise of the variant amid unvaccinated communities in the U.S. has caused major surges of new COVID-19 cases, which health officials expect will number at or above new daily 200,000 cases in the coming weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that 70 percent of people aged 12 years and older were partially vaccinated and roughly 60 percent were fully vaccinated. 

Updated Aug. 20, 7:12 a.m.