U.S banks walk tightrope of encouraging, but not mandating vaccines

U.S banks walk tightrope of encouraging, but not mandating vaccines

NEW YORK - Big Wall Street banks have started enforcing stricter mask and vaccine requirements for staff, sometimes communicating them behind the scenes, in an effort to combat coronavirus infections in their offices while avoiding a fierce national debate about individual rights, sources at the banks and consultants who work with them told Reuters. Specifics differ, but many big banks have tightened up policies or pushed back return-to-office dates from just a month ago. Now, Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley have the toughest rules at their New York headquarters, where staff entering must be vaccinated. JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc have not mandated vaccines the same way, but both require unvaccinated workers to wear masks and get tested at least weekly. will only allow vaccinated staff to return to its offices in early September, while encouraging other employees to get inoculated. The widespread availability of coronavirus vaccines in the United States caused infections to drop dramatically from January to June, but driven largely by the Delta variant, the current 7-day moving average of daily new cases is up 35 percent, according to Reuters tracking data. Wells Fargo & Co pushed back its return to office start