Courtesy of Peter Schmeck
HYANNIS – Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which some business advocates say creates an opportunity for venues to strengthen workplace vaccine policies and get hesitant workers inoculated.
Managing Director of the Health Action Alliance Stephen Massey said that increased surge threat from variants of COVID may also encouraged employers to double down on vaccination policies.
“It’s not just FDA approval that is moving employers in this direction. It’s actually the Delta variant, which we know is highly-transmissible and is causing a surge in new infections across the country,” said Massey.
“Businesses are seeing these numbers. Business leaders are getting concerned. They want to protect their employees and they want to get the economy back on track, so they’re doing everything they can to get employees vaccinated and strengthen workplace safety.”
When it comes to dealing with vaccine holdouts and others hesitant to get a shot, Massey said employers should do everything they can to educate employees about the benefits of getting vaccinated to both personal safety and public safety.
Over 200 million individuals in the nation have been vaccinated, and most deaths now associated with COVID involve those unvaccinated, according to federal health officials.
“Employers should do everything that they can to educate their workers about vaccination, to encourage them to speak with their doctors about these vaccines, and make it as easy as possible for employees and their families to get vaccinated,” said Massey.
“Employers can do that by offering paid time off and other incentives to employees to get their shots. We also encourage employers to offer paid time off to working parents who might want to vaccinate their eligible children but just haven’t had the flexibility in their schedule to do so.”
Massey said employers should consider implementing some kind of regular testing policy as well as indoor mask mandates as a way to cut down on spread of the virus, if they would prefer not to require vaccines.
According to Johns Hopkins University, about 66.6 percent of the state’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
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