Employees Stay On After Vaccine Mandates. NewsWire

NewsWire: 10/20/21

• So far, the share of people leaving their jobs because of vaccine mandates is much lower than the share who claim they would quit. Industries and companies that have implemented mandates have generally driven up their vaccination rates close to 100%. (The Conversation)
• NH: For months, employers held off on implementing vaccine mandates for fear of losing workers during a labor shortage. In one survey, 16% of employed respondents said that they would quit and/or look for another job if vaccines were required. Among those who said they were “vaccine hesitant” (almost a quarter of respondents), 48% said they would quit or look for another job. That’s similar to what the Kaiser Family Foundation found in another poll: Fully half of unvaccinated workers said they would quit.
• But as mandates have become more common among major employers, we aren’t seeing mass resignations. The actual number of employees leaving is much lower than the survey data suggest.
• In New York, where the mandates have no test-out option, 92% of healthcare workers had received at least one vaccine dose as of the mandate deadline--up from around 83% just the week before. In August, when the mandate was announced, about 74% of healthcare workers were vaccinated. Among full-time school employees, who are also subject to a mandate, 95% have now gotten vaccinated.
• Houston Methodist Hospital, one of the largest employers in Houston, saw its share of unvaccinated workers drop from 15% to 3%, then 2%, after its mandate. Only 153 out of 25,000 workers were fired or resigned. In Denver, where the mandate deadline for public safety workers looms, only around 1.5% of its police force and firefighters have quit so far or are slated to be dismissed. Meanwhile, vaccination rates at United Airlines and Tyson Foods have jumped to 90% or higher. (See “Covid-19 Reveals Deep and Familiar Divides.”) Even in Alabama, which has one of the nation’s lowest vaccine uptake rates, one of the first nursing homes in the state to implement a staff vaccine mandate only lost 6 out of 260 employees.
• The data are clear: Mandates significantly increase vaccination rates. Yet even though the share of companies that have instituted them has grown steadily over the past month, it’s still relatively low at 25%. Another 13% of companies plan to put a mandate in place, while 20% haven’t decided what to do yet. The remaining share (around 40%) may ultimately decide to regularly test employees instead of requiring vaccination. Earlier this month, President Biden urged more private businesses to mandate vaccinations as his order for large companies to require vaccination or weekly testing continues to be finalized.
• The adoption of vaccine mandates has increasingly been met with hostility from GOP leaders and voters. The contentious political environment was the reason why that the Biden administration initially shied away from considering any mandates. IMO, this shows just how far the US has drifted away from the task of governing—where it’s understood that you will have to make decisions that won’t be popular with everyone.
• A government that is so paralyzed by the prospect of political blowback that it becomes unable to enact basic public health measures can no longer be an effective government, full stop. The countries that have controlled the pandemic most successfully are the ones that have acted swiftly and decisively. The countries that have not ended up with Covid death-to-population ratios on par with that of Bulgaria, Paraguay, and Georgia. Only these countries have the excuse of poverty, meager public health budgets, and immature political institutions. What's ours?