United CEO: Vaccination requirement is “about saving lives”

United CEO Scott Kirby reflected on the toll of the pandemic and the decision to require vaccination against COVID-19 for all United Airlines employees. “In the past month I’ve been writing one to three letters per week to employees who lost their life, all unvaccinated. And so, to me, once you view the world through that prism, it seemed like no choice. It’s about saving lives,” he said. Kirby also addressed the airline industry’s recovery as the traditional summer travel season comes to an end, explaining “we’ve always known it was not going to be a straight line.”