The number of UK job ads mandating a COVID-19 vaccine jumped 189% in 3 months on jobs board Adzuna. The 'taboo' around mandates is 'breaking,' its CEO said.

• More and more UK job postings require applicants to be vaccinated, the job site Adzuna said.
• UK posts on the site that mandated COVID-19 shots rose 189% between August and October, Adzuna said.

The number of UK job adverts explicitly requiring applicants to be vaccinated nearly trebled in the three months to October on a popular online jobs board — a sign of a wider trend of companies mandating vaccines for staff.

Figures published by Adzuna showed the number of UK job posts on the site requiring job seekers to be vaccinated shot up 189% between August and October. In October, the site listed 2,324 jobs requiring a COVID-19 vaccine, up from 805 in August.

Andrew Hunter, a cofounder of Adzuna, told The Guardian that the "taboo" around vaccine mandates "appears to be breaking." He said that "large corporations are putting a stake in the ground and saying, 'Right, you have to be vaccinated by a certain date.'"

Currently, 0.19% of all UK job ads on the site now require job seekers to be vaccinated. While still a small proportion, it marks a consistent rise in recent months. In July, 0.07% of vacancies stated vaccine requirements.

Other than frontline health and care home workers, UK firms are not legally required to demand their staff get vaccinated, but many appear to be taking the lead from US firms, which are increasingly requiring vaccines, Hunter said.

In the US, under President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate, firms with more than 100 staff have until January 4, 2022 to ensure their employees are vaccinated or receiving weekly tests. All federal employees must now be vaccinated.

In the US, 0.9% of job ads on Adzuna's site are currently mandating vaccines — about 69,000 of a total 7.9 million vacancies. Adzuna also said that it was seeing evidence of US employers offering bonuses as incentives to get a shot, and that some were explicitly stating when a job seeker doesn't require a shot.

Polls suggest that the majority of workers in the US want their job to require a vaccine. One veterinarian went as far as quitting because their coworkers refused the jab.