Some Employees Are Leaving Jobs Over Vaccine Mandates

Around 78% of eligible Americans have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine / Lynne Sladky. Slightly under 40% of workers who are u...

Around 78% of eligible Americans have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine / Lynne Sladky.

Slightly under 40% of workers who are unvaccinated say they would leave their job if getting the Covid-19 vaccine was mandated by their employer or if they were required to get tested for the virus weekly, according to the results of a new survey.

Even more unvaccinated workers—seven out of 10—would leave their jobs if their employers instituted a vaccine mandate and there wasn’t an option to get tested weekly, according to results from the Kaiser Family Foundation Covid-19 Vaccine Monitor. The survey took place Oct. 14-24 and polled 1,519 adults in the U.S.

A quarter of workers say they are required by their employer to get vaccinated against the virus, the survey said. That figure is 16 percentage points higher than it was in June, according to the survey, which also said that half of workers still say they are against employer vaccine mandates.

More employers have been instating Covid-19 vaccine mandates in recent months, and the Biden administration has boosted vaccine requirements for large businesses. Tyson Foods Inc. has already required its entire U.S. workforce to be vaccinated. Investment bank Morgan Stanley said workers in its New York City and Westchester County offices would need to confirm they were vaccinated before returning in person, while Google and Facebook Inc. both said they would mandate employees at U.S. offices be vaccinated.

A protest against Covid-19 vaccination mandates in New York City on Monday / Shutterstock.

Around 78% of eligible Americans have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and 67.4% are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Labor and employment lawyers have said there is little stopping employers, whether they are public or private, from requiring their workers to get vaccinated.

Some Republican state leaders have pushed back against mandates, citing residents’ personal choice. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order earlier this month banning businesses from requiring vaccinations. Florida is suing the Biden administration over vaccine requirements for federal contract workers, and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued an executive order Monday to stop what she called “overreaching federal Covid-19 vaccine mandates.”

Some workers in the healthcare space, facing vaccine mandates, quit their jobs or were fired over the orders. Municipal workers in cities including New York and Chicago have also been grappling with new requirements, leading to protests and court battles.

In New York City, an expanded mandate requires all city workers to have their first shot by Oct. 29 or risk losing their jobs. Seventy-one percent of New York Fire Department employees and 76% percent of the New York City Police Department were vaccinated, according to the agencies Thursday. Without an increased uptake, up to 20% of fire companies could be closed Monday, and there could be 20% fewer ambulances on the road.

Vaccine uptake varies based on factors such as political party and where people live, according to the results from the Kaiser Family Foundation survey. Sixty-one percent of Republicans have received at least one dose of vaccine compared with 90% of Democrats. Three-quarters of urban residents have gotten at least one dose, compared with 73% of suburban residents and 58% of rural residents.

With authorization of a Covid-19 shot for children aged 5 to 11 on the horizon, some parents feel hesitant about getting their young children vaccinated against the virus, the survey showed.

Just over 70% said they were very or somewhat concerned about serious side effects.

Experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration recommended earlier this week that the regulator authorize Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s vaccine for those children aged 5 to 11. The FDA is expected to make a decision in coming days or weeks.

Just over a quarter of parents said they would get their 5- to 11-year-old child vaccinated immediately upon authorization, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation survey. Thirty percent said they definitely wouldn’t, a third of parents said they would wait and see, and 5% said they only would if required by a child’s school.

More than three-quarters of parents said they are somewhat or very concerned about not enough being known about the long-term effects of the vaccine in children, according to the survey results. Just over 70% said they were very or somewhat concerned their child might experience serious side effects, the results said.

It is important that children get vaccinated so both they and the people around them are protected from the virus, according to physicians and doctors. More children were hospitalized more recently during the pandemic, as the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant led to a fresh surge in confirmed Covid-19 infections. The risk that children develop severe disease or die from the virus is relatively low.