Covid-19 Vaccination in the Workplace
Over the past couple of years, vaccination has become an ever-increasing contentious social and political issue. Initially, this debate mostly raged on in the relatively confined spaces of mommy blogs, online parenting groups and so-called “anti-vaxxer” websites. It mostly dealt with the mandatory childhood vaccination programs many countries impose on their citizens and was limited to those who felt vaccination saved lives and those who believed that parents could decide for their own children.
Recently, however, this debate had burst onto the global arena with the raging Covid 19 pandemic that left no country untouched. Scientists, virologists and immunologists around the world came together and delivered various viable, functional, effective and safe vaccines against the Covid 19 virus, and countries all over the world started mass vaccination drives of their citizens.
Where does South Africa stand on vaccinations?
South Africa has vaccinated close to 20% of its citizens fully, with the aim of reaching 70% Full Vaccination before December. There are, no doubt, many benefits to being vaccinated, and working as part of a fully vaccinated team. But the question remains – Can anyone force someone to be vaccinated, or, alternatively, prevent someone from getting vaccinated?
In short – the answer is no. Vaccination remains a personal choice for every adult living in South Africa. According to a new consolidated direction on occupational health and safety measures in certain workplaces, which was gazetted by the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, employers and employees should engage with each other and find meaningful ways of discussing vaccination in the workplace, while maintaining respect for each other and different views.
There are two grounds on which an employee can refuse to be vaccinated:
- Constitutional grounds: Specifically the right to bodily integrity in section 12(2) and the right to freedom of religion, belief and opinion in section 13 of the Constitution.
- Medical grounds refer to issues of an immediate allergic reaction (regardless of severity) to a previous dose or a known (diagnosed) allergy to a component of the COVID-19 vaccine.
How should employers who wish for their employees to be vaccinated, approach it?
- What is the employee’s Covid – 19 risk level?
- Take into account your employees age, and any known co-morbidities, as well as their workplace, and job description. Decide which employees cannot work unless they are vaccinated. (Mandatory vaccination list.)
- Devise a Vaccination program for your business and communicate it with your employees (also provide employees with information about vaccines.)
- Provide help to employees to register for vaccination and give them time off to be vaccinated.
My employees are objecting to mandatory vaccinations. Inform employees on this list of the obligation to be vaccinated and their right to object on one of the two grounds – (Medical/Constitutional).
It is important to engage meaningfully with employees who refuse to be vaccinated, to find out the reasons behind their refusal. If they object for medical reasons, refer them to a medical professional for counselling and risk evaluation. (Take guidance from the opinion of the medical professional.) If your employees are objecting on constitutional grounds, calmly engage with them and try to pinpoint if they have been targeted by misinformation or otherwise influenced.
How can I manage my unvaccinated employee risks?
Businesses cannot force employees to get vaccinated but are allowed to mitigate their own risks by removing unvaccinated employees from high risk, client-facing positions, or enforcing mandatory mask-wearing and weekly testing for unvaccinated employees.
