Follow-Up: You May Have to Motivate Staff Who Decline the COVID-19 Vaccine

We warned you last week that trying to force hesitant staff members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine could be both ineffective and legally risky. That doesn’t mean you shouldn stop encouraging them to get the shot, however; after all, it’s for their own protection as well as that of their co-workers and patients. According to an article in The New York Times, some healthcare employers are offering cash, extra time off, and goods such as restaurant gift cards to incentivize workers to get the vaccine. Whether you want to entertain any of those tactics or not, at the very least you should ensure that staffers know their option to receive the vaccine will probably be taken off the table at some point. With the distribution chain being less than reliable, many organizations are reallocating vaccine in danger of going unused to locations where supplies are dwindling so it doesn’t go to waste. (For background about the legal risk of trying to strongarm employees into getting the vaccine, read Can Employers Mandate the COVID-19 Vaccine? in our archive.)