By Craig Laser

Citing a “tipping point” in the surge of COVID-19 infections due to the Delta variant, an increasing number of hospitals, medical groups, and governmental agencies linked to healthcare (such as the Department of Veterans Affairs) have been announcing vaccine mandates for all of their healthcare employees. Generally, the terms of these vaccine mandates typically involve either getting vaccinated within an allotted time period or getting tested on a weekly basis. In many cases, failure to comply will result in termination, and already, in numerous parts throughout the country, healthcare employees are getting fired or are resigning as a result.

Yet despite how contested and sensitive the issue of vaccine mandates are, and even despite the admittedly unfortunate nature of the resignations and terminations, it is important for hospitals and medical groups to double down and remain steadfast in their commitment to what is assuredly the right thing to do during this critical period of the pandemic. Toward this end, it’s helpful to break the issue down into several components and examine them one-by-one. The goal, by the time we are done looking at each component, is for healthcare administrators and decision makers to remain confident in the vaccine mandates, and not wavering in their decision to implement them, while also realizing there are ways to go about it so as to maximize success and compliance while reducing employee dissatisfaction.
Renormalizing a normal medical practice
First of all, at this point, it is not a viable option to let vaccination for public facing healthcare employees remain optional. Earlier in the year, various commentators and policy analysts argued that vaccine mandates should be treated as a last resort, and that other measures such as incentives should be tried first. At the time it was a valid argument, and we tried that approach. We educated, we encouraged, and we pleaded. Perhaps if such intermediary measures had worked well enough, and the infection numbers had continued to go down as they had done in May and April, it would be a different story right now. But that did not happen and here we are. In the words of former surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, the pandemic is “spiraling out of control yet again” due to unvaccinated people.

Next, employers have a legal right to set rules and requirements for the workplace, including mandatory vaccinations. There are, in fact, numerous things employers are legally allowed to do that most people don’t give a second thought to. These include the use of video surveillance in workplaces, tracking Internet use during work hours, and mandatory drug testing, all of which could be seen as intrusive and yet are the legal right of employers and are largely uncontroversial.

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