Hollywood’s Covid-19 vaccination mandates were the subject of a three-hour special meeting today of the SAG-AFTRA national board, which ended without any action to modify the existing policy that allows employers, on a production-by-production basis, to require vaccinations as a condition of employment, subject to restrictions contained in the industry’s Return-to-Work agreement.
That agreement is set to expire on Sept. 30.Industry-wide talks to renew the agreement are scheduled to begin on Monday. Taking part will be leaders of SAG-AFTRA, the DGA, IATSE, the Teamsters and the Basic Crafts unions, as well as representatives from the companies and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, who last month had called for the special meeting, was accompanied to Saturday’s board meeting by her own epidemiologist, Dr.
Harvey Risch. He is the Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine.
Drescher and Rissh were of the opinion that it’s now safe to lift the mandates.SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher Calls For Review Of Hollywood’s Covid Vaccination MandateSAG-AFTRA also brought its own epidemiologist to the meeting – David Michaels, an epidemiologist and professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health.
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