Delta Air Lines announced on Wednesday that unvaccinated employees would have to pay $200 more every month for their company-sponsored health insurance.

New York Post reported that the added charge to health insurance contributions is the latest strategy of the company to encourage more employees to get vaccinated. 

Among the companies that have mandated vaccines for their employees include United Airlines in efforts to protect their operations from the Delta variant.

Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian said that the monthly surcharge would be imposed effectively on November 1. According to its spokesperson, the company had estimated $40,000 per person for the average hospital stay for COVID.

The spokesperson added that the surcharge would be applied to the whole workforce, and proof or documentation of vaccination will be needed to avoid it.

Bastian noted that 75 percent of Delta Air's staff had been vaccinated. However, he said all employees who have been hospitalized with COVID in recent weeks were not fully vaccinated.

Other major U.S. airlines such as American and Southwest are also encouraging employees to get vaccinated. However, they have not required it yet.

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U.S. Companies Vaccine Mandates

Chevron Corp. and drugstore chain CVS had also announced that they would require particular workers to get vaccinated. According to NPR, the announcement of the companies' vaccine mandates came after the full approval of Pfizer.

Dr. Robert Murphy, the executive director of the Institute for Global Health at Feinberg School of Medicine, said full approval would be a much bigger deal than people think.

Murphy said the only thing that is really going to work is mandates, which should be coming from individual companies and hospitals as the government has limited impact.

Leading the Global Health Group for C&M International, Nicholas Diamon noted that full approval adds a level of comfort, USA Today reported.

The railroad service Amtrak has also announced its plan of requiring all its employees to be fully vaccinated by November 1.

Airlines Vaccine Mandate

Alaska Airlines announced earlier this month that it was considering requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID. However, it would only do so if one of the vaccines received full approval.

Meanwhile, Frontier Airlines said that employees have to be vaccinated or tested regularly for COVID, according to CNBC. Delta Air Lines has said that it informed the Air Line Pilots Association of the changes in the airline company. Air Line Pilots Association is their aviators' labor union.

The union said it had received dozens of comments from pilots opposing the surcharge. However, others had applauded the measure.

The union's statement noted that it has consistently advocated maintaining each individual's right to consult with his or her medical provider about the vaccines.

It added that the union respects Delta's effort to reduce the impact of infections in its operations, but the company needs to "bargain with the Delta MEC over any employer-mandated vaccination for pilots."

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This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Delta Airlines: Unvaccinated Employees Will face $200 monthly Surcharge on Health Insurance - From CNBC Television