SAG-AFTRA, Ad Industry To End Vax Mandateb Covid Protocols For Commercial Shoots – Deadline
SAG-AFTRA and the Joint Policy Committee of the advertising industry have agreed to end their Covid safety protocols for commercial productions effective May 11.
The protocol’s vaccination mandate, which gave commercial producers the right to require Covid vaccinations as a condition of employment, also will end on that date, although projects in production as of May 11 that had already established a mandatory vaccination policy in Zone A – the most restrictive of safe work zones on sets – may continue that policy for the duration of the production.
SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s other production guilds and unions reached a similar agreement last month with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end their Covid protocols – including the vaccination mandate – on May 11.
“The protocols will expire May 11, 2023, concurrent with the date the federal government has identified for the expiration of the Coronavirus public health emergency,” SAG-AFTRA said. “Projects in production as of May 11, 2023 which had already established a mandatory vaccination policy in Zone A, may continue that policy for the duration of the production.
“Beginning on May 12, 2023 through July 31, 2023, performers working in scenes that require close or intimate contact or extreme exertion, may request Covid antigen self-administered testing for themselves and other performers with whom they will be working in those scenes.”
SAG-AFTRA is also terminating the Covid protocols for projects shot under its much smaller corporate/educational and non-broadcast contracts.
