How Are Employees Feeling About COVID Workplace Safety And Vaccines Mandates?

According to a survey by the Conference Board, 42 percent of workers are worried about returning to the workplace for fear of contracting COVID-19. This number marks a substantial increase from June 2021 when only 24 percent of workers expressed that concern. Women and Millennials are more concerned than their counterparts, both about contracting COVID-19 personally and about exposing family members.

There is reason for these employees to worry. With only 53.9 percent of the population fully vaccinated, the United States has fallen behind France (72 percent), Canada (68.7 percent), Italy (66.3 percent), the United Kingdom (65.9 percent), and Germany (62.2 percent) in terms of vaccination rates. And, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations among the unvaccinated population added up to about $5.7 billion in preventable health care costs over the summer.

It is against this backdrop that President Joe Biden has proposed a plan to require all private sector firms with 100 more workers to ensure their employees are vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. (The law firm Kelley Drye has explained the proposed policy here while MSCI member company Optimum Safety Management has information here.) According to a survey released last week, the proposal is popular. In fact, a majority of Americans support vaccine mandates for private companies, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

While it is still unclear when the Biden administration will release the details of the policy, or when it will take effect, legal opposition to the plan has begun to mount. As The Hill reported, a group of Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to President Biden vowing to take legal action if he did not reverse course. The group argued the mandate would be illegal and unlikely to be successful as a public health measure.