In a joint statement, the unions announced “a continuation of negotiations of the Return-to-Work agreement while discussions continue with the AMPTP,” and that the current rules “will remain in place until a new Agreement is reached.”.

Those include strictly enforced testing regimens, physical distancing, Covid compliance officers, diligent use of personal protective equipment and a “Zone” system to ensure that different sections of productions are tightly controlled based on proximity to cast, who often can’t wear masks or maintain social distancing while working.

Proponents of the mandates argued during the board meeting that the mandates should remain in place because vaccines continue to provide a measure of protection against transmission and infection – a view supported by SAG-AFTRA’s own expert, David Michaels, an epidemiologist and professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health who served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA during the Obama administration.

Harvey Risch, who is Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine – maintain that the vaccine is not effective against the spread of the latest subvariants of the virus

Opponents also say that many employers have not been abiding by the provisions of the Return-To-Work agreement that allow for mandate exceptions based on medical reasons or sincerely held religious beliefs

Last month, writing in the most recent issue of SAG-AFTRA Magazine, Drescher expressed “concern that giving employers the discretionary rights to decide which of us can or can’t work based on our medical history is a dangerous slippery slope

If an employer can decide you can’t work unless Covid vaccinated, what’s next, we can’t work without a monkeypox vaccine?”