The Met orders all staff to get vaxed within a month
NewsThe Metropolitan Opera has issued a notice to all employees to ensure they get vaccinated against Covid before a projected return to work on August 1.
‘Employees who are not in compliance with this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.’
Always with the soft touch, that nice Mr Gelb.
Quite right.
Forced to take an experimental vaccine. Not good.
More than 3 billion doses given worldwide, and infection and hospitalization rates are the lowest in cities and counties with the highest vaccination rates, but I know, you need more data to know if it’s safe and effect.
I hear what you’re saying but it shouldn’t be forced. I t only divides people further and puts more people off.
Hey Rob – I’m put off by stop lights all the time. It’s very divisive. No more stopping for me.
Better for everyone involved that you stay in your basement, Rob. Don’t forget to don your tinfoil cap.
Tell that to Michael Yeadon, a former CSO of Pfizer, and co-founder and CEO of Ziarco, who would strongly disagree with you, but carry on believing in people like Matt Hancock! LOL
Could someone please explain why being forced to take an experimental vaccine is a good thing? Thanks.
They have emergency authorization, they are not experimental. Millions of doses have been deemed safe and effective and have already saved millions of lives. Is that clear enough for you?
It’s not even a vaccine, it’s just called a “vaccine” that by the mainstream media to promote the experiment, otherwise not so many people would’ve taken it.
1. It’s not experimental. In the U.S., it went through all of the trials any other vaccine goes through. It was developed and approved quickly because: 1) The government subsidized the cost, allowing drug companies to go into production before they knew if the vaccine would work (and if it didn’t work, they’d be junked and the government would be out the cost); 2) COVID is so contagious that it didn’t take long for people in the test and control groups to get infected to see if the vaccines worked; and 3) The FDA bumped the vaccine approvals to the top of their to do list.
2. Everyone needs to get vaccinated because the longer the virus is alive and spreading, the more chances it has to mutate to a more deadly variant, which is exactly what’s happening with the Delta variant. Your refusal to get vaccinated endangers everyone and will cause more death.
It’s not experimental, you moron. YOU are the reason many of us on this site haven’t worked in over a year. Go back to your Trump rally and stop bothering us.
Who said I was a Trump supporter? If personal abuse is the very best you can do, then I can only have pity for you.
I forgot to add, the reason you haven’t worked for a year is because a virus possibly escaped from a lab in Wuhan.
Irrelevant! COVID is here. Get vaxed!
Will you take it when it becomes fully approved? It should be in a matter of months.
A college told me a couple days ago that he experienced chest pains and headaches for a month after the first vaccine, and his mother died after her first jab from a blood clot. She was only 65 years old with no other health problems at the time. If the “vaccine” (it’s not actually a vaccine – as someone else commented here, it’s actually an mRNA medical device) becomes approved, I’ll decide when that day comes, but so far it’s not looking very good, and those that are taking this drug may become dependent on it, as it now looks like people who’ve taken it will need a third jab. What then? A fourth, fifth and sixth jab, etc.?
Maybe one a year. Personally I am “dependent” on my annual flu shot……
Try getting educated mate. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-covid-vaccine/fact-check-the-mrna-coronavirus-vaccine-is-a-vaccine-and-it-is-designed-to-prevent-illness-idUSKBN2AM0SS
CDC states a vaccine is a product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting that person form that disease.
If you are immune to a disease, you can be exposed to it without being infected.
Neither Moderna nor Pfizer claim this to be the case for their “vaccines.” In their clinical trials they specify they will not even test for immunity. No they aren’t vaccines.
Gotta love the “fact checkers.” Help keep the narrative going:)
Actually he sounds like one of those people who won’t take the 70-year-old polio vaccine because “there are still questions” about it. Some people like to think they are the special 1 out of 800,000 people who will have an adverse reaction to something.
Stop yourself from getting covid and wasting public funds if you have to receive intensive care
Such bad psychological behaviour. No one around who can teach him in this case?
You’re the one who needs teaching but time is the best teacher.
As a fully vaccinated person the meaning of my opinion is:
“C’est le ton qui fait la musique”.
All vaccines are ‘experimental.’ But not nearly dicey as contracting a novel coronavirus.
Yeah, because there is no other way to treat it:)
Like Hydroxychoroquine? I met a guy in Vegas last week (old guy obviously a Fox News aficianado though that’s an assumption). He stated his “maintenance dose of Hydroxy would keep him safe.” The name “Charles Darwin” suddenly sprang into my consciousness…..
1. He’s probably more resistant than you.
2. Unlike you, he knows what the long term effects are.
3. Fox “news” like the rest of media, actively censors news on treatments. I would say the old guy is much more informed than you. Doesn’t censorship bother you at all? Shouldn’t people see all sides to issues? This applies not just to Covid19
I do my own research and don’t rely on what I see on TV. Plus I consult with three of the best doctors in New York. That will do for me.
Great. Ask the 3 doctors to explain the long term effects of the Covid jab to you. While you’re at it have them explain it to the CDC, FDA and Big Pharma because they have no idea either. NOBODY does.
Doesn’t big tech and media censorship on many topics bother you at all? Most lefties tend to skirt this question.
[The name “Charles Darwin” suddenly sprang into my consciousness…..]
Does that also explain for you the minority of people whom the vaccines maim and kill? Look, I’ve decided for myself – like all of us, let’s cut the crap, on the basis of feeling rather than science – that getting vaccinated is worth the risk, but could we try to be a bit human here and consider how it must feel to suffer damage from vaccination or know someone who’s been killed by it, which describes a large proportion of the anti-vaccination movement? Could we aspire to be made more rather than less human by this universal human catastrophe?
It’s not experimental. And no one is forced to take it; they are free to seek employment elsewhere.
You’re wrong, the vaccine is experimental.
Level with us. Where did you get your medical degree?
Where did Peter Gelb get his medical degree is the more pertinent question!
You dodged my question. Ergo, you DON’T have a medical degree?
It’s technically not even a vaccine. All of the woke people that got jabbed need to still wear masks. Do as WHO says. Trust the narrative! “Trust the science!” Only trust CNN! Don’t listen to any of the qualified doctors and scientists that have a different opinion. Oh yeah. You can’t.. they’ve been censored. Woke fools.
Don’t you have a trump-rally to attend?
It’s not a political issue. It’s a personal issue. If you try to make it a political issue, you’re being controlled by very dark nefarious forces.
Rob writes: “It’s not a political issue.”
Er…it actually is. The political question is the extent to which some people’s ability to choose (even to choose something others think foolish) is compromised by other people insisting they are not free to choose.
That is a political decision.
For example, smoking is bad for your health and foolish, but we allow people to smoke if they want, even if we place limits on where they can smoke (again, a political choice).
Technically not even a vaccine? Do elaborate, please. There are at least 3 different vaccine technologies available, so even if you want to put forth some ridiculous argument that the mRNA ones are not vaccines, you’re still wrong.
Funny how cases are dropping like a stone everywhere these “not a vaccine” vaccines are widely deployed, and staying stubbornly high among those who refuse.
“…cases are dropping like a stone everywhere these …vaccines are widely deployed, and staying stubbornly high [elsewhere].”
Err. A bit more complicated than that since the vaccines have mostly been rolled out in those places with very high infection rates. Those are the places with a great many people with some immunity from previously having caught the virus.
However, given the pretty low risk from the vaccine, anyone who hasn’t had the virus would be somewhat foolish not to take the vaccine, especially if they fall in a fairly high risk category.
How is that not being forced. Good lord the woke mentals are in full force in these replies.
Let’s see if you’d want to show up to work with hundreds of unvaxed colleagues in close quarters. Or, if any of your vaxed colleagues would want to work with you….
Bill writes: “…no one is forced to take it”.
Um…it seems that some people are being forced to take the vaccine, such as the people who work at the Met.
God save us all from the anti-vaxers.
God save us from people like Matt Hancock!
An emergency use authorization does not mean that the vaccine is experimental! Please stop making it even harder for us to get rid of this thing so we can get back to work!
Thanks for the Orwellisn double-speak.
Absolutely correct, Rob. It’s amazing the level of brainwashed mentality, isn’t it?
Um, yes it is. It is an mRNA medical device NOT a vaccine for starters. Would you have taken it knowing that? That’s why it’s called a “vaccine” so people would take it.
Bingo, Hayne!
Is this on the same principle that you would not eat a breakfast sausage (or a hot dog, as in my experience Americans do not “get” sausages) if it were called “Emulsified high-fat offal tube” (with thanks to “Yes, Minister,” something else Americans probably don’t get).
Haha! There would be a hell of a lot less sausage eating if were labeled like that, that’s for sure:)
The vaccine is not going to eliminate Covid; it will remain with us forever, and there will always be (a small number of) people who die from it. We are going to have to learn to live with it.
The end solution is that high-risk people will be encouraged to regularly take the vaccine (like for winter flu), and life will return to normal.
Yeah. I feel so sorry that millions of lives are being saved.
Millions of lives? There haven’t been that many who have died, even with all the inflated numbers. This virus is a minor nuisance to most people who contract it and who recover with no hospital stay and no after effects. I don’t deny that it is deadly for some, but so is the flu – even more so!
Ignorance is bliss.
Brian: the rates of death from Covid are much higher than for flu.
It is an open question how many lives the vaccine will save. That depends on how many people have had Covid. I would suggest something like half the US population have had Covid, suggesting the vaccine is saving something like 150,000 people. But who knows, that is just an educated guess.
Yes. I feel so sorry that millions of lives are being saved.
The vaccine isn’t saving “millions of lives”. The number will be more like 150,000 in the US. (It may be “a bit more”, or it could be “a bit less” but it will not be “millions”).
Rather take an experimental virus???
How about this for “soft touch”:
“Employees who are not in compliance with this policy will be embraced personally by me with a kiss on both cheeks, and whoever infects other employees, guest artists, and audience members, will be named Employee of the Month with their photo adorning the lobby, because here at the Met, we cherish employees who are too stupid to protect even themselves and their own families.”
Question:
Are singers considered employees of the Met or independent contractors?
Will crazy right wing COVID deniers (I am looking at you Günther Groissböck) be forced to be vaccinated or forgo singing at the Met?
Why do you care if Gunther Groissbock gets it or not? You’re fine now. Don’t worry about it.
Your answer is both, depending which singers.
Plan artists, other weekly singers, and those singers who cover more than sing are W2. Others who are paid per performance, but sing more than they cover are 1099. The orchestra is W2. House directing staff and stage management are W2.
But it doesn’t matter. It’s been decided in court that employees can be required to take the vaccine. And independent contractors are also hired/fired at-will.
Like the tone or not, this is 100% smart. It’s also what most US opera houses are doing.
Do you know for sure that “it’s been decided in court” that employers can force employees it the US to take the vaccine whose approval is only “emergency authorization”?
This is the first that I have heard that there was any court case about it and I follow the news on this closely.
I believe there have been a couple of cases. Don’t have the time to dig them up. And most notably, a judge dismissed a lawsuit in Texas brought by Houston Medical workers who were released from employment for not getting it, saying that they had no case.
Yes, the US Federal Courts are so wise. And they’re brilliant scientists to boot!
I assume you’re talking about Netrebko. In which case, let’s hope!
A moot point with Netrebko – she had COVID last year, so she’s the equivalent of vaccinated.
Just because one has problems with the fake vax doesn’t mean they are political or religious or a “crazy right winger.” What an ignorant, uninformed comment.
Yes they are.
US case law has already determined that employers have the right to terminate employees who refuse to get vaccinated – putting not only themselves but others at risk. Gelb’s letter have been blunt, but it was not out of bounds.
Besides, NY state and NYC have some of the highest vaccination rates in the country. The vast majority of the MET’s employees are already vaccinated.
Nice to see Gelb finally making a good decision.
Agreed though don’t expect good decisions to become a pattern…………..every squirrel eventually stumbles on a nut.
Has there been a settlement between the musicians/stage hands and administration to even prepare for a return to work yet?? Last I heard they were headed towards a labor dispute on account of Gelb’s attempts at Union busting……seems like putting the cart in front of the horse…….
I’m sure you’ll be the first to be told, when labor negotiations are settled.
The chorus has already settled, the musicians are probably close, and the stagehands will be last – probably immediately before the season starts.
They aren’t going to wait to start working until *everyone* puts pen to paper.
Not true. For an on time start, IATSE will be next. They have to be. Operas have tech rehearsals in the summer.
And of the fourteen other unions with agreements, many are working away now.
Typical of Peter – right message, poor delivery.
This self-proclaimed master of marketing can’t escape infuriating the Met’s personnel or the opera-going public.
Good god – what’s the matter with this delivery? Is he supposed to tell a couple of jokes and dance a jig first? Grow the fuck up.
Maybe he should have said “pretty please?”
You’ve clearly never managed (the same group for long…) a large number of employees. Communication skills are essential for success in business. You want to make people work for you, not in spite of you. Peter has succeeded in the latter.
I actually have managed large groups of people. While being supportive and positive is generally the way to go (though this post isn’t about my management style), this is an “all hands on deck” situation (trying to get back to work during the pandemic – back on stage, back in the pit) that benefits from a pretty direct message. Anyone not smart enough to understand that doesn’t belong in the organization.
Disgusting abuse of power. There may be many reasons why someone isn’t able to take the experimental jabs or has reached an informed decision not to for health or ethical concerns.
“Abuse of power.” You’re ridiculous. They’re not experimental. Go back to your Fox “News” program.
Good to hear vaccinations are now available on demand in the US. Of course with so many anti-vaccers around, I suppose there are a lot of doses going begging.
I think if I were returning to an office and company situation I would like to think people I had to have daily contact with were immunised.
The immunity from the vaccine wears off after six months. (Well, it is sharply reduced, immunity doesn’t go to zero). You will be working with people who are, effectly “not immunised” within a few months even if everyone has had the vaccine.
You say, “Always with the soft touch, that nice Mr Gelb.” I agree that the way this issue has been handled by Peter Gelb and the MET is very harsh, but I don’t think that, in this case, Mr. Gelb is behaving any differently than other U.S. managers and directors towards their staff. The U.S. employment system is an extremely brutal and heartless enterprise and I have heard and personally experienced far worse than what is quoted above.
The U.S. culture is all smiles and all pleasantries until there is a problem or they want something different than you want. Then the toothy smile and ever so polite words suddenly disappear and you are threatened, given ultimatums and suddenly become persona non grata. If you are fired in a downsizing, you may learn about it from a one sentence email, from your formerly ever so friendly boss, who simply sends you one line telling you that you have one hour to clean your office and be escorted out of the building by one or two burly armed security men, like a petty criminal, with no time to say goodbye to colleagues, even after 10 or 15 years working for the company. Where else in the world could humans be that heartless and cold?
It is something that is very hard for people from other cultures to grasp and come to terms with, as such levels of brutal and inhuman behaviour on the part of an employer is relatively unknown in most other cultures in the world, so the contrast between the big plastic smiles and then ruthless cutthroat behaviour comes as a shock to most civilised humans.
So, Mr. Gelb threatening to terminate the employment of a MET employee who refuses to get vaccinated by August 1st is par for the course in the United States. I am just so grateful that I only remained in that abusive and stressful working culture for three years and realised afterwards how lucky I was to get away from that environment, where a sword of Damocles hangs over every employee’s head all of the time, even when they take their maximum allowed, after a few years on the job, two weeks annual holiday.
[Where else in the world could humans be that heartless and cold?]
You must be joking. Travel a bit.
It’s New York; that’s very gentle. And the time for kid gloves on vaccination is over. It’s totally reasonable to expect people who work as close together at Met musicians, stagehands, etc., to be vaccinated as a condition of returning to work.
Exactly. Same approach as Morgan Stanley and several other financial institutions.
If you read Jamie Dimon’s comments on the situation, he takes a very measured tone, unlike Gelb’s draconian approach. They are making allowances for the unvaccinated that continue the mask mandate and social distancing, unlike vaccinated individuals who are given more freedom in the office. But, then, Dimon is a successful CEO.
Carol Isen, Morgan’s San Francisco director of Human Resources stated “We hope our employees respond to this in the spirit in which it’s offered — not as a punishment, but as a safety measure.”
Tone matters.
Tone matters?
I guess he should have put a “trigger warning” on the announcement.
We have long-since passed the “pat-on-the-back” stage of vaccine encouragement and are well established within the “kick-in-the-ass” stage.
Actually, if 80 percent of people take the vaccine, it really doesn’t matter if the rest don’t. Once 80 percent have taken the vaccine, and have immunity, the virus won’t spread.
If you read about Jamie Dimon’s comments, it is much more measured, and allows that unvaccinated people must wear masks, social distance, etc. He does not employ Gelb’s draconian language.
Kind of hard to play a wind instrument when wearing a mask.
Also, “draconian” doesn’t mean what you think it means.
The only vaccine they need is against Peter Gelb.
This isn’t the way to talk to employees. ie threatening them. It’s a notice in the dark ages. Speak to them like adults and you’ll generally get a better response. It’s not rocket
science. Just get your head out of your arse.
Yet more unwarranted hatred of New York and the Met. That policy IS ABSOLUTELY JUSTIFIED and indeed should be de rigeur for ANY institution – in the arts world and elsewhere – that serves any segment of the public.
Has no-one explained to you the difference between reasoned criticism and hatred? Come back when you’ve worked it out.
Why don’t you ask this question to your friend, “sue sonata form”? You know, the one who hates left-wingers, African-Americans, gays…
“Always with the soft touch, that nice Mr Gelb.”
Sorry, but I am missing the “reasoned criticism” here. It was sarcasm and we all know what John Knowles said of that.
Norman, can you ask your IT person to fix the problem wherein up or down votes for a comment in a thread are also applied to the original post? This has been happening ever since the most recent layout changes were made.
And it would be nice to have a comment box that is more that 10 characters wide.
Maybe a heavy handed approach with respect to the vaccine is needed? The last thing the Met needs is to reopen and reclose because a slew of sicknesses. I think it is the correct approach.
And there’s nothing even heavy-handed about it. Gelb could make everyone on here a millionaire and people would still trash him. The head of this site sets a poor example
Clearly, he’s only interested in making himself a millionaire. Musicians? What musicians?
fflambeau: “The last thing the Met needs is to reopen and reclose because a slew of sicknesses.”
Sigh. (i) The vaccine will not completely stop the spread of the virus; it will just reduce the severity of the illness for most people who take the vaccine. (ii) Any immunity from the vaccine will start to wear-off after a few months.
There is every chance of cases rising again once we start to re-open, but we are going to have to accept this because otherwise we are going to stay in lockdown forever.
Uh oh… We’re going to have a hard time to know which way to virtue-signal on this. Do we go new-age-y, no GMO, all-organic, anti-vax; or do we go authoritarian “the science is settled!”, “trust the science!”, “take the jab and quiet down!”? There’s nothing natural or “all-organic” about the vaccine, but people in white lab coats have declared it necessary and safe.
Good luck everybody. May the odds be ever in your favor.
There really are a lot of psychos on this website. Get your vax and shut up!
Charles Darwin……………
My old mentor used to say: Never say never and you will never be wrong. I never thought that I would agree with anything Peter Gelb said or did, except HD transmissions, but even they, probably, undermined the attendance of live performances at the Met. This time I agree with him. And please, do not invoke human rights. NOBODY has the right to endanger others either because of ignorance, paranoia, delusional beliefs in their own invincibilty or any manner of conspiracy theories. There are very few cases where Covid-19 vaccine is not recommended, like when someone is receiving chemotherapy. Even patients on regular immunosuppressants are told to just hold the treatment for 1 week. No vaccine is 100% effective, so out of billions vaccinated, there are some breakthroughs. No compound is devoid of adverse effects, so there will be allergic reactions and some deaths. This is to be expected with any agent used for medicinal purposes. So far, this is the only way to defeat this plague, so we can stop living like rats in our burrows and get back to normal human interactions and save the world economy from total ruin.
Always amazes me how suspicious people are of progress. Jenner had the same problem.
Following the science, would be the best policy, in my opinion! Singers and some instrumentalists ( like woodwind and brass players ), deal with expelling minuscule droplets in the air, when expelling breath/air, needed for their performing instrument. Contagious material has been proven, scientifically, to be expelled more frequently, thus spreading infection, from singers, speakers, and some instrumentalists ( Reed and Brass Instruments – Example ), who have been infected with a virus ( contagion ).
Comments on this blog need some serious moderating. Stay on topic. It’s turned into fucking QAnon/Fox News bullshit.