Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook employees they won't need a COVID-19 vaccine when they return to the office next summer

• Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook employees in a company all-hands meeting on Thursday that they wouldn't need to get a COVID-19 vaccine to return to the office, The Daily Beast reported.
• A Facebook representative confirmed this to Business Insider and added that Zuckerberg told employees he was looking forward to getting a vaccine himself.
• Facebook employees won't be asked to return to the office until July at the earliest.

Facebook employees won't need a COVID-19 shot to come into work.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees in a virtual all-hands meeting on Thursday that the company wouldn't require them to get a COVID-19 vaccine to return to the office, a source told The Daily Beast.

A Facebook representative confirmed this to Business Insider. "Our US offices remain closed and we don't expect them to open before the COVID-19 vaccines are widely available," they said. "At yesterday's company Q&A, Mark said that at this point, based on what we know, we don't think it will be necessary to require a vaccine for employees to return to work. He also said he's confident in the vaccine and looks forward to getting one himself."

The representative stressed that employees wouldn't be asked to return to the office until July. They added: "Once we return to the office, we will have a number of protocols in place that we expect to include testing, social distancing, wearing masks and other best practices. We continue to work with many experts to define a plan that prioritizes everyone's health and safety."

Read more: Mark Zuckerberg threatened not to invest in the UK over its 'anti-tech' attitude during a secret government meeting

Zuckerberg has endorsed the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine, and he interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci about the vaccine during a Facebook livestream. He has said Facebook contacted the incoming Biden administration to ask how it could help with the COVID-19 response.

Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine started rolling out in the UK this week, and a committee of experts in the US on Thursday voted in favor of authorizing it for emergency use. It's now up to the Food and Drug Administration to decide whether to give it emergency authorization.