Delta CEO Not Requiring Domestic Passengers To Vaccinate

ATLANTA — Vaccination is not a requirement to board a Delta Airlines flight for domestic travel.

That’s what Delta CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC Tuesday on the show “Squawk Box.”

“It’s difficult for us to come in and mandate a vaccine that isn’t federally approved yet,” Bastian said. “The authorization hasn’t been final yet, so stay tuned.”

As the threat of the more contagious delta variant of COVID-19 has grown across the country, vaccine hesitancy is beginning to decrease.

Georgia recorded 20,637 new COVID cases in the final week of July, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while the number of people with at least one shot jumped from more than 4.7 million to over 4.9 million.

During the discussion on financial literacy, Bastian dropped the news about Delta's decision regarding vaccinations.

While some companies have embraced the idea of requiring vaccinations to their customers, Bastian said Delta continues to hold off.

“We’re continuing to encourage as much as we can amongst our own people and our customers to get vaccinated,” he said. “The numbers are picking up.”

He said that 73 percent of Delta employees are fully vaccinated.

Read the full story on CNBC.