FACT CHECK: Did Keurig Dr Pepper Vow Not To Impose A COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate On Its Employees?

An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows a statement from Dr Pepper in which it vows to fight against a vaccine mandate.

Verdict: False

There is no evidence Keurig Dr Pepper, the company that owns Dr Pepper, made any such statement about the vaccine. The company denied making the statement shared on Facebook.

Fact Check:

President Joe Biden announced on Sept. 9 a plan to require all employers with over 100 employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested weekly. This mandate will be implemented through an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the near future, according to The National Law Review.

An image attempts to suggest Keurig Dr Pepper put out a statement about fighting the mandate. It shows what appears to be an email the company sent to its employees that reads, “The Dr Pepper Corporation was established and based in Texas in 1885 and this email serves as a notice to all employed by Dr Pepper Corporation that no matter the trials of the political winds, Dr Pepper Corporation will not abide by any regulation or mandate that stipulates that our employees be vaccinated or face termination of employment.” The message goes on to state that the company is ready to resist any government-imposed employee vaccination mandate “with full legal council.”

The “Dr. Pepper Corporation,” however, does not appear to be a real company. The Dr Pepper brand is a property of the Keurig Dr Pepper company, which acquired it after merging with the Dr Pepper Snapple Group in 2018, according to a press release from the company. Prior to this, the brand was owned by the Dr Pepper Company and then Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., according to the Texas State Historical Association.

The message shared on Facebook, which contains grammatical errors, does not appear in any of Keurig Dr Pepper’s news releases or Dr Pepper’s social media posts. There is likewise no mention of the company taking legal action against the federal government on the Department of Justice’s website or on the Texas Courts’ website.

“I can confirm that is not a communications from the Company, or an employee or the brand,” Keurig Dr Pepper Corporate Communications Vice President Vicki Draughn said of the message in an email to Check Your Fact. “Keurig Dr Pepper expects it will be subject to the vaccination and testing mandate recently announced by The White House, and we are awaiting additional details.”

Keurig Dr Pepper employs almost 26,000 people, according to its LinkedIn profile. It is unclear when exactly the ETS about COVID-19 vaccination will be released or go into effect, USA Today reported.

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