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As reported in Trends Journal, on 9 September President Biden, directing his remarks to those yet COVID-19 unvaccinated said, “We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” adding that the unvaccinated “can cause a lot of damage, and they are.”
He then decreed by Executive Order that private sector companies with 100 or more employees must require those employees to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, and that vaccination would be required of executive branch employees and federal contractors—anyone who does business with the federal government—with no testing option; see “MAJORITY OF AMERICANS WOULD QUIT THEIR JOBS THAN TAKE THE JAB. WILL THEY BACK DOWN?” (14 Sep 2021).
On 29 October The New York Times reported that Citigroup will be the first major bank to hop on board with Biden’s order, making vaccination a condition of employment for its U.S. workers.
TRENDPOST: Citigroup is one of the Big Four banks (the others are JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo). Citigroup has over 200,000 employees, down from the 357,000 it had before the banking crisis of 2007-2008 (when it was the recipient of a federal bailout); see “BINGE BORROWING AND CHEAP MONEY TO FIGHT COVID WAR: DANGER AHEAD” (19 Oct 2021).
The NYT article cites the company’s head of human resources, Sara Wechter, explaining that her bank has an obligation to comply because it does business with the federal government.
Ms. Wechter also said that such a policy will enable the bank to “ensure the health and safety of our colleagues as we return to the office,” that requests for medical and religious exemptions will be considered, and that the bank will do “all we can to help our colleagues comply with this new requirement.”
TREND FORECAST: Ms. Wechter (who must also be a futuristic medical expert) also said, “It has become crystal clear that COVID-19 will not be going away any time soon.”
In saying that, she echoed not only Pres. Biden—who, in announcing his rule affecting some 100 million Americans, said, “We are in the tough stretch, and it could last a while”—but also Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, who is on record declaring that his company sees providing COVID-19 vaccines as a “durable revenue stream” and who plans to contract with “basically all governments of the world” to supply booster shots through 2024; see “DRUG COMPANIES CASHING IN ON COVID” (11 May 2021) and “COVID JABS: STRIKE THREE” (13 Jul 2021).
The worker shortage will continue to escalate as more people resist the COVID Jabs. Therefore, we forecast there will be an easing of corporate jab mandates and the offering of religious vaccine exemptions in the coming months and years.