Meta said it will require its employees to have received the COVID-19 booster vaccine before they can return to its US offices.
The company had previously said employees would need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to return to the office, but starting March 28, they will also need a certificate for a booster dose, Meta spokeswoman Tracy Clayton. The company is also delaying the full reopening of its offices until March 28, reversing a return previously set for the end of this month.
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Not all Meta employees will have to return to the office on March 28. Those who want to return can postpone their return by three to five months, a policy first announced in December. The company is also letting staff request to work remotely full-time. Employees will now have until March 14 to decide whether they want to return to the office, postpone their return, or request full remote work.
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The changes are being announced as the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. continues to rise, forcing companies and organizations to alter their plans for returning to the office. The rising cases prompted many companies to pull out of in-person appearances at this year’s CES , and the conference itself was closed a day early. Last week, both the Grammy Awards and the Sundance Film Festival announced changes. The Grammys were postponed in part due to concerns about the Omicron variant, while Sundance canceled in-person programming for its 2022 event.
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Other major tech companies have recently changed their plans for reopening their offices. Apple has indefinitely delayed its return to normal operations in December, pushing back its previously scheduled February 1 reopening. Google had planned to keep the office work voluntary until January 10, but the company said in December it would wait until 2022 to make more plans for a return to the office. Microsoft changed its return to the office date to September, and Amazon announced in October that it would let individual teams decide when to return to the office.
