The White House commended Fox Corporation on Tuesday night for reaching a 90% COVID-19 vaccination rate among full-time employees.
Fox's chief human resources officer told staffers about the milestone earlier in the day, and said the company will start giving daily COVID-19 tests to those who are not vaccinated, The Wrap reported.
"Today's news from Fox News follows a trend we’re seeing across the country: vaccination and testing requirements work," a White House spokesperson told CNN.
"We are glad they have stepped up to protect their workforce and strengthen the economy, and we encourage them convey to their audience that these types of practices will protect their employees, their communities, and the economy."
President Joe Biden, last week in announcing vaccine mandates for federal workers and businesses, cited Fox News as a company that already had implemented the kind of requirements he was unveiling to the nation.
Business Insider reported that Fox's employee COVID-19 policy, though similar to Biden's, was not quite as far-reaching as the administration's rules.
The conservative-leaning network does not have a full vaccine mandate. Instead, Fox Corp. requires employees to submit their vaccination status to the company.
Fox reportedly gives “privileges” to staff who are vaccinated over those who are not, and also requires all unvaccinated employees to wear masks and social distance at all times while working on site.
"Following our request for employees to upload their vaccination status in our secure system, we are pleased to share that more than 90% of our full-time employees reported that they are fully vaccinated," Kevin Lord, senior vice president of human resources, told Fox employees in a memo, The Hill reported.
"This is important information for our company to know as we continue to implement our phased return to office timing and procedures."
Not all companies have Fox's aggressive COVID-19 policy.
For example, Newsmax's vaccination policies have differed from those of Fox News.
Newsmax encourages all employees to be vaccinated and grants them paid time off to do so. But the company neither requires vaccination nor penalizes employees for not being vaccinated.
Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of the mRNA technology used in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, argues that only individuals in COVID risk groups should get the shot, but that younger, healthier individuals should not be required to do so because of potential long-term risks.
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