PILOTS FROM 30 GLOBAL AIRLINES SOUND ALARM
Where it exists, mandated COVID-19 vaccination for aviation workers must be discontinued.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2022
Pilots from 30 Global Airlines and Doctors & Scientists from the Global Covid Summit Sound Alarm to FAA Over Vaccine Injured Pilots
Airlines Include:
American, Delta, United, Jet Blue, Frontier, Alaskan, Southwest
In Letter to FAA and International Civil Aviation Authorities, A Coalition Warns the Health of Vaccine Injured Pilots Must be Addressed to Restore Flight Safety
WASHINGTON, DC – The Vaccine Safety Research Foundation (VSRF) issued unflinching support today for a letter sent to the Federal Aviation Administration and other civil aviation authorities that raises serious concerns over COVID policies and their effects on pilot health and flight safety.
The letter was sent by a global coalition of thousands of pilots representing 30 global airlines and the Global Covid Summit representing 17,000 doctors and scientists.
The letter is from pilots employed by the following airlines:
American, Delta, United, Jet Blue, Frontier, Alaskan, and Southwest.
The letter reads:
Pilots are trained to be careful analysts of their environment, recognizing risks, and actively mitigating. For many, their training and differential risk analysis led to concerns and negative conclusions regarding the compatibility of COVID-19 vaccination with health and flight safety. Not only did many pilots disagree with arbitrary requirements embodied in vaccination mandates, but they also saw risks in the unanswered questions and unjustified speed and pressure behind the vaccine rollouts. They lobbied their airlines and politicians, recommending caution and opposing mandates.
It continues:
Principled professionals were forced out of aviation and the industry lost hundreds of thousands of hours of experience.
The letter ends with a call to action.
Civil aviation authorities such as the Federal Aviation Administration, Transport Canada, UK Civil Aviation Authority, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority must begin fulfilling their regulatory obligations. The crisis in pilot health must be publicly addressed by airlines and representing unions to restore flight safety to what we once knew. The undersigned alliance of aviation and medical professionals represent thousands of pilots at over 30 global airlines, along with over 17,000 physicians and medical scientists, worldwide. We call for the following:
- Where it exists, mandated COVID-19 vaccination for aviation workers must be discontinued.
- A permissive environment for self-reporting needs to be reemphasized by regulators and airlines.
- Thorough and objective aviation medical screenings of pilots and cabin crew need to be a high priority. These must be backed by the regulator and should focus on high prevalence harms which are now showing up in the general public and in our flight crews.
- Airlines and regulators hold data about sickness and medical certificate suspension, including symptoms and causal reasons. This data should be analyzed by independent third parties to establish or rule out COVID-19 vaccination as a possible cause.
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