United Airlines says it's down to only 232 employees who face termination for defying its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for 67,000 workers

• United Airlines says the number of employees defying its vaccine mandate has dropped further.
• The number first fell from 593 to 320 and has now fallen lower still to 232 workers.
• The company had set a September 27 deadline for its 67,000 US employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Even more United Airlines employees have come into compliance with the company's COVID-19 vaccine mandate since facing termination for defying it.

There are now only 232 United employees in the separation process for refusing the comply with the vaccine mandate, CNN's Pete Muntean reported Tuesday. United confirmed the news to Insider.

The company had announced in August that it would require all of its US-based employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or seek religious or medical exemptions. United's 67,000 employees in the US had until September 27 to get the shot. When that deadline came, United said all but 593 workers had complied with the mandate, meaning more than 99% of its US workforce was vaccinated.

A few days later, United announced that number had fallen further still so that only 320 employees were still holding out on the vaccine. The company said at the time that much of the decrease resulted from employees simply uploading their proof of vaccination late.

Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and JetBlue have recently adopted vaccine mandates of their own, citing President Biden's vaccine mandate for federal contractors. Delta Air Lines said in August that it will require unvaccinated workers to pay an extra $200 per month for healthcare to "address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company."