JetBlue: No to hiring unvaccinated, yes to violent felons

JetBlue would sooner hire a violent felon on probation to pilot a plane than someone who refused the COVID-19 injections, the airline’s policy suggests. 

Despite there being no federal vaccine mandate for aircraft pilots or crew, JetBlue’s job applications state that pilots must be vaccinated in order to be employed by the airline. 

“Every decision JetBlue has made throughout the pandemic has been with our safety value front and center,” says the airline. “Whether it’s requiring masks, or many of the other health and safety protocols we’ve had to navigate during the pandemic, all of these efforts have been focused on making the workplace and air travel safer for you and our Customers. As part of our commitment to health and safety, COVID-19 vaccines are required for all JetBlue employees. New hire employees must be fully vaccinated prior to the start of training.” 

But while unvaccinated pilots are persona non grata, the Daily Wire reports that according to two pilots who work for JetBlue, the airline recently hired John Perrys, a man who entering a judge’s home and attacking his daughter with a metal baton as she was coming out of the shower. Perrys served nine years in prison and remains on felony probation until 2044. 

“Apparently JetBlue won’t hire unvaccinated pilots, but they will hire violent convicted felons to fly their airplanes,” one pilot said on condition of anonymity. 

JetBlue justified its vaccine mandate in 2021 because it was a federal contractor and therefore compelled to comply with the Biden administration’s federal mandate. But even the Biden administration has clarified it is not enforcing the mandate. 

“Despite the lifting of the nationwide bar to enforcement on October 18, 2022, at this time agencies should not: (1) take any steps to require covered contractors and subcontractors to come into compliance with previously issued Task Force guidance; or (2) enforce any contract clauses implementing Executive Order 14042,” the government stated last month, referring to guidance which required federal contractor employees to take the COVID-19 injections, impose mask mandates and enforce social distancing. 

Vaccine mandates for pilots were introduced last year, despite Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidance which “requires at least one-year of post-marketing experience with a new drug before consideration for aeromedical certification purposes. This observation period allows time for uncommon, but aeromedically significant, adverse effects to manifest themselves.”