{"id":205582,"date":"2022-02-21T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=205582"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:08:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:08:15","slug":"corporate-vaccine-mandates-and-vaccine-passports-brought-to-you-by-blackrock-and-vanguard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/02\/corporate-vaccine-mandates-and-vaccine-passports-brought-to-you-by-blackrock-and-vanguard\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Vaccine Mandates and Vaccine Passports \u2014 Brought to You by BlackRock and Vanguard?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Investment giants BlackRock and The Vanguard Group stand to benefit from their ownership stakes in most of the corporations that imposed COVID vaccine mandates, and in some of the technology firms developing vaccine passports.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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16 Feb 2022 – <\/em>After the U.S. Supreme Court last month froze<\/a> the Biden administration\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large private employers, some companies \u2014 including Boeing<\/a>, General Electric<\/a> and Starbucks<\/a> \u2014 dropped plans to implement the mandate.<\/p>\n

Others, based<\/a> on guidance<\/a> issued in 2020 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, left the mandates in place.<\/p>\n

Most of the large employers that opted to mandate COVID vaccines<\/a> for their employees, even though the Supreme Court ruled they didn\u2019t have to, have something in common: BlackRock and The Vanguard Group have ownership stakes in them.<\/p>\n

BlackRock and Vanguard, two of the world\u2019s \u201cBig Three<\/a>\u201d asset managers, also are among the top three shareholders of COVID vaccine makers Pfizer<\/a>, Moderna<\/a> and Johnson & Johnson<\/a> \u2014 which means the two investment giants stand to benefit from these companies\u2019 soaring profits<\/a> and the resulting rise in those companies\u2019 stock prices.<\/p>\n

BlackRock and Vanguard don\u2019t just benefit from sales of COVID vaccines. As it turns out, they also have ownership stakes in technology companies developing vaccine passports<\/a> and digital wallets.<\/p>\n

BlackRock: the \u2018fourth branch of government\u2019?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Combined, BlackRock and Vanguard manage more than $15 trillion<\/a> in global assets.<\/p>\n

To put this figure into perspective, that amounts to more than three-fourths of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and more than triple the GDP of the European Union\u2019s economic powerhouse, Germany.<\/p>\n

BlackRock is the world\u2019s largest asset manager, with more than $9.5 trillion<\/a> in assets as of July 2021, while Vanguard held more than $7 trillion<\/a> in assets as of January 2021.<\/p>\n

Notably, Vanguard is the largest stockholder<\/a> in BlackRock (7.61%), while BlackRock is the biggest stockholder<\/a> in Vanguard (13.06%) \u2014 though the actual ownership structure of these companies has been described as \u201cdark<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an August 2021 article<\/a> about the two firms, Dr. Joseph Mercola pointed out that, far from the appearance of competition promised by capitalism, BlackRock and Vanguard own significant shares in companies that ostensibly compete directly with each other, such as Google, Apple and Microsoft, or Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.<\/p>\n

This influence extends to the media. BlackRock alone owns significant shares<\/a> in supposed \u201ccompetitors\u201d such as Fox News, CBS, Comcast (NBC), CNN, Disney (ABC), Gannett (USA TODAY and 250 daily newspapers throughout the U.S.), Sinclair Media (whose television stations reach<\/a> 72% of the American public), and the Graham Media Group (Slate, Foreign Policy).<\/p>\n

BlackRock is also politically influential<\/a> and well-connected, having been chosen by the Obama administration to buy up toxic assets following the 2007-2008 financial collapse.<\/p>\n

In 2020, BlackRock received<\/a> a no-bid<\/a> contract from the U.S. Treasury Department to manage a $454 billion fund, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act<\/a>), for businesses adversely impacted by the COVID lockdowns early that year. It wasn\u2019t the first time<\/a> BlackRock had been granted a no-bid contract from the federal government.<\/p>\n

BlackRock along with other firms also is engaged in a real estate purchasing spree<\/a>, buying up entire neighborhoods of single-family homes and converting them to rentals, driving up home prices by reducing supply on the marketplace.<\/p>\n

BlackRock\u2019s real estate strategy echoes the words<\/a> of the World Economic Forum: \u201cYou\u2019ll own nothing, and you\u2019ll be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

This level of power and influence promoted none other than Bloomberg in 2020 to characterize<\/a> BlackRock as the \u201cfourth branch of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

BlackRock, Vanguard among top 10 stockholders in most companies mandating vaccines<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It is unclear to what extent BlackRock and Vanguard are able to dictate the vaccination policies of the companies in which they hold a stake \u2014 but what is clear is that the two investment firms are among the top 10 stockholders in most of these companies.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a rundown of major U.S. employers that continue to mandate COVID vaccines for their employers, and these companies\u2019 relationships with BlackRock and\/or Vanguard (all ownership figures are accurate as of this writing):<\/p>\n