Walt Disney World has paused its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, FOX Business confirmed Sunday.
“We believe that our approach to mandatory vaccines has been the right one as we’ve continued to focus on the safety and well-being of our cast members and guests, and at this point, more than 90% of active Florida-based cast members have already verified that they are fully vaccinated,” a Disney spokesperson told the network. “We will address legal developments as appropriate.”
Disney announced it would make vaccinations mandatory for all its on-site salaried and non-union (huh!) hourly employees nationwide back in July—six weeks before Joe Biden announced his vaccine mandate.
According to an internal memo obtained by FOX 35 Orlando, the pause will remain in effect while they “assesses the new state laws protecting workers from vaccine mandates.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation last week protecting Florida workers from losing their jobs due to vaccine mandates. Employers face a $50,000 fine per violation.
“Nobody should lose their job due to heavy-handed COVID mandates, and we had a responsibility to protect the livelihoods of the people of Florida,” DeSantis said in a press release.
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