United Airlines may make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for employees, and other companies should do the same, United Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby told workers at a meeting on Thursday, according to a transcript reviewed by Reuters.

A United spokeswoman confirmed that the company was ‘strongly considering’ making vaccines compulsory, though it isn’t a policy yet.

‘I think the right thing to do is for United Airlines, and for other companies, to require the vaccines and to make them mandatory,’ Kirby said.

‘If others go along and are willing to start to mandate vaccines, you should probably expect United to be amongst the first wave of companies that do it.’

CNBC had earlier reported the news of Kirby wanting to mandate the vaccine for employees.

Companies are still in the early stages of navigating access and distribution of vaccines against the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, but inoculation is considered the key to safely resume operations at crowded warehouses, factory lines and on sales floors.

There is already considerable discourse about whether private companies would be able make the vaccine mandatory. Seemingly, private US companies could require employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

‘Employers generally have wide scope to make rules for the workplace, said Dorit Reiss, a law professor who specialises in vaccine policies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. ‘It’s their business.’

Despite this, cultural and legal reasons may inhibit this from becoming common practice. Firstly, there would be the administrative burden of tracking who has been vaccinated, as well as the question of where to draw the line on legitimate exemptions and possibility of having to manage legal claims.

In light of these, companies in the US are expected to merely recommend the vaccine, as opposed to make it mandatory.