Major companies might mandate COVID-19 vaccines for some employees, a poll of 150 current and recent CEOs suggests

• In a poll of 150 current and recent CEOs of major companies — including Walmart, Goldman Sachs, and UPS — 72% of respondents said they were open to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
• "There was a surprising amount of openness to the idea of mandates for vaccines," Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, told CNN.
• The leaders were polled at a summit organized by the institute.
• But some attendees said they would wait to make a decision and would assess how the first rounds of vaccinations went.
• Lawyers previously told Business Insider that employers could be allowed to mandate vaccinations with certain exemptions but that it's more likely that companies would strongly encourage employees to get vaccinated.

CEOs of major companies could require at least some employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19, a poll of business leaders has suggested.

At the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute's virtual summit on Tuesday, 150 current and recent CEOs of major companies - including leaders from Walmart, Goldman Sachs, and UPS - were polled on the concept of vaccine mandates, and 72% said they were open to the idea, per CNN.

"There was a surprising amount of openness to the idea of mandates for vaccines," Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the founder of the institute, told the outlet.

The poll didn't specify whether such a mandate would apply to all employees or just those who worked in close proximity to others.

Some leaders at the summit - including the CEOs of American Airlines, Duke Energy, and Yum Brands - said they would prefer to wait to see how the first doses of vaccinations went before making a decision.

"Let the vaccines be distributed, see what the acceptance rates are," American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told the summit. "In the end, we'll all have to make the best decision for our individual companies."

For airlines, the pressure could be different, Parker said. Some countries may require people to be vaccinated before they can enter, he said - which could include airline workers.

Mark Weinberger, who sits on the boards at MetLife and Johnson & Johnson, told CNN that mandating vaccines would be "difficult."

"Business has a huge role to play in helping set the tone on the importance of vaccines," he said.

"But to say you're going to be fired if you're scared to death to take a vaccine, that's a difficult position for CEOs to take."

Companies ranging from white-collar workplaces to healthcare firms have increasingly asked lawyers whether they can make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for their employees. One lawyer told Business Insider that seven different clients reached out to him on one day with that question.

Read more: Labor and employment attorneys are seeing a surge in business, and big firms are setting up coronavirus task forces to help clients navigate layoffs and workplace safety

It's more likely that companies will strongly encourage, rather than require, that their employees get vaccinated, lawyers told Business Insider in November.

Companies may also be waiting months until there are enough vaccine doses available for all staff members.

About 100 million Americans, or roughly a third of the population, could be fully vaccinated by the end of March, US government officials said Monday. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has voted to recommend that healthcare workers and residents of nursing homes be first in line for the shot, followed by other frontline workers and those considered at risk of serious illness.

This has led to debate about exactly who counts as essential or frontline workers. Amazon sent a letter to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday urging it to class its warehouse, Whole Foods, and data-center workers as essential and provide them with access to the vaccine.

Uber sent a similar letter about its drivers earlier in December, saying its workers provided critical transportation for essential workers.