The Tech Box
Vaccinating your workers
Over 2 million Americans are being vaccinated every day (7-day moving average.) The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been in full effect since mid-December, but each state has different guidelines and the CDC’s recommended staggered approach, limits eligibility so far.
This makes it even more important for your company to have a vaccination plan in place. There are two aspects to this – first, providing resources for those employees who want to get the vaccine and second, educating workers about this prevention tool.
If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to create an essential worker verification letter for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Click here for a sample letter that you can customize for your employees.
You can also make COVID-19 vaccination part of your workplace wellness program. Consider implementing a workplace COVID-19 vaccination program by offering vaccinations onsite.
Contact the health department in your jurisdiction for guidance. By offering the vaccination onsite during work hours, it will encourage employees who may otherwise be undecided. And it emphasizes your support for your employees and for how they’ve stepped up as essential workers to keep our nation’s supply chains moving, during this pandemic.
Additional considerations for hosting a vaccination clinic can be found in CDC’s Resources for Hosting a Vaccination Clinic.
If you aren’t able to offer vaccinations onsite, you can still educate employees about the benefits of vaccination and address common questions and concerns. The CDC has put together a toolkit specifically for this purpose. The toolkit has great resources including template letters to introduce COVID-19 vaccine educational activities, free posters and factsheets that can be downloaded and printed, and sample presentations.
Most companies aren’t expected to make vaccinations mandatory for employees, but there are many ways to make it easier for your workers to get their shots. Management, human resources and labor representatives should all be informed, so they can be part of the effort if appropriate.
Thanks,
Mary Alice
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Mary Alice Drain is the Director of Technical Services at Fibre Box Association (FBA). If you have technical questions about the corrugated industry, you can reach her direct at
mdrain@fibrebox.org
.