How Tyson Foods Got 60,500 Workers to Get the Coronavirus Vaccine Quickly

The meatpacking giant, which was criticized for failing to do enough to protect its workers from Covid-19 last year, has become a leader on corporate mandates.

SPRINGDALE, Ark. — When Tyson, one of the world’s largest meatpacking companies, announced in early August that all of its 120,000 workers would need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or lose their jobs, Diana Eike was angry. Ms. Eike, an administrative coordinator at the company, had resisted the vaccine, and not for religious or political reasons like many others here in her home state.

“It was just something personal,” she said.

Now, Ms. Eike is fully vaccinated, and she is relieved that Tyson made the decision for her. The company, she said, “took the burden off of me making the choice.”