Is Your Staff COVID-19 Vaccine Resistant? Next Steps For Your Organization
As delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine progresses, it is becoming more readily available to healthcare workers. However, an increasing number of frontline workers are concerned about the safety of the vaccine. The CDC has recognized COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers as a major concern. Since healthcare providers are a trusted source of information about medicine and health, their resistance to the COVID-19 vaccine can cause a negative ripple effect through the populations they serve.
It’s important to recognize that not all vaccine hesitancy is based on social media conspiracy theories. Some of it is grounded in mistrust of the healthcare system and of their employers. For example, some frontline workers have expressed concern that the short turnaround time on the vaccine makes its safety doubtful. Some workers are understandably resistant because of historical racial bias shown by doctors and the medical establishment. Others have voiced suspicions about their employers encouraging them to get the vaccine, especially when they feel their employers have not protected them adequately with PPE or provided them with hazard pay.
So how can organizations best address this issue? The CDC recommends a three-point program for encouraging healthcare staff to accept the COVID-19 vaccine:
Reinforcing trust: providing staff with accurate and clear information about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine and addressing social media disinformation;
Empowering healthcare providers: Creating a culture in which staff concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine are answered clearly and with empathy, and encouraging staff to in turn address their patients’ concerns;
Engaging communities and individuals: Working with communities to engage trusted leaders who can help with culturally sensitive and relevant information that will encourage marginalized communities to get vaccinated.
Above all, empathy and clear information will be the most important tools that healthcare organizations can provide in addressing staff concerns about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine. If a culture exists where staff feel safe to express their worries and where those worries can be addressed sensitively and with clear, accurate information, there will be a much better chance of overcoming healthcare workers’ vaccine hesitancy and creating a safer workplace for all.
A Note On Mandating the COVID-19 Vaccine for Healthcare Workers
Although the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) allows employers to require that employees get the COVID-19 vaccine, employers must make allowances for staff to refuse due to religious objections or disabilities. If a staff member refuses to be vaccinated on one of those grounds, their employer must try to find a reasonable accommodation (for instance, allowing them to work from home or at a job that is not patient-facing.) Organizations that are unable to make such accommodations may be at risk of a wrongful-termination lawsuit and may want to seek legal advice before proceeding with termination.
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