CNN has fired three employees who were caught going into an office unvaccinated against COVID-19, according to a staff memo from network President Jeff Zucker.
“Let me clear — we have a zero-tolerance policy on this,” Zucker warned in the email to employees shared on Twitter by CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy on Thursday.
“You need to be vaccinated to come to the office,” Zucker continued. “And you need to be vaccinated to work in the field, with other employees, regardless of whether you enter an office or not.”
Details about the firings weren’t revealed. Zucker said CNN was “made aware” of the workers’ vaccination status in the last week.
CNN’s employees don’t have to provide documentary proof of vaccination, The Wall Street Journal reported. That policy is now reportedly under review.
In his memo, Zucker also announced the postponement of the company’s planned date for all employees to return to offices.
The Sept. 7 target was pushed back indefinitely amid the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus, meaning in-office work remains on a voluntary basis for the foreseeable future, he wrote.
“I think it is fair to say that we are all feeling a mix of anticipation, anxiety, frustration, confusion, and exasperation … I get it,” Zucker said in the memo. “Continue to take care of yourselves and each other. And I will share more updates just as soon as we have them.”
Multiple U.S. companies and federal agencies have mandated that part or all of their workforce be vaccinated, including meatpacking giant Tyson Foods and social media platform Facebook.
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