In recent months, governments and companies around the world have used a variety of incentives to boost vaccination rates — from cash to free beer to a live cow. But in Switzerland, a startup CEO chose to do the exact opposite, encouraging his staff not to get vaccinated — and rewarding them with a big fat Swiss francs bonus.
As Swiss online media Heidi.News reports, Daniel Héritier, CEO of Opeo — a company near Lausanne specializing in the sale of containers and waste collection —, sent an internal memo offering 1,000 Swiss francs ($1,077) bonus to any employee who chooses not to get vaccinated by March 31, 2022. This, as the note reads, to thank them for “not having yielded to this [vaccination] dictatorship which is genocide”.
Héritier later tried to justify his action, saying he only aimed at “restoring equity” in the face of COVID measures, which he felt were “unfair to the unvaccinated.” Despite his justification, Héritier was promptly fired by Opeo’s board of directors, who stated they were in “total disagreement” with the CEO’s anti-vaxx stance.
