Encourage Vaccination

Covid 19 vaccination began in India on January 16, 2021. Currently, it is only being rolled out to health care workers and front line staff but soon it will be available in the open market for the rest of us too.

Companies will play a major role in encouraging employees to vaccinate themselves against Covid 19. This will not only help drive up immunity but also get the society back to normal.

Hesitation around the vaccine is not new. In a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country, the government on Tuesday said of the total people vaccinated against COVID-19 so far, 0.18 per cent were adverse events following immunization, while 0.002 per cent had to be hospitalized which is fairly low. Addressing a press conference, NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said concerns about adverse effects and serious problems post immunization as of now seem to be unfounded, negligible, and insignificant and stressed that both the vaccines are safe.

However, companies face a big challenge in the scores of employees who are skeptical and reluctant to get vaccinated. The management and HR must take out some time and reach out to employees and educate them because there is a lot of fear and misinformation. All leaders in the organization must communicate the importance of the vaccine to the employees. It is after all for their health and safety and benefit.

HR may communicate regularly on the importance of vaccination. Several Indian companies are planning to buy the Covid-19 vaccine in bulk for their employees. Some companies have started categorizing their employees in order of vulnerability, so that the ones above the age group of 50 years and those who were infected by Covid 19 earlier will be vaccinated first. Companies are considering offering employees free transport facilities to vaccination centres and coverage for medical assistance in case of mild side-effects.

While vaccination has been made by some companies as mandatory in US, there is no such law currently in India. However, just as during lockdown employees were asked to download Aarogya Setu app on their phone, something similar may be designed now.

Large scale vaccination is the only effective way to clamp down on the spread of the virus, prevent further disruptions to life and economy and hasten a return to normalcy. And there are many who argue that corporate India can play a significant role in speeding up large-scale immunization. However, it is the Government’s decision in the end. Till then, as HR, encourage employees to prepare to get vaccinated. As employers, you cannot mandate it, but you can surely make your employees understand the importance of getting vaccinated. However, race, religion and gender are issues to be treated sensitively.

Remember, vaccination is only a way to mitigate the risk to a large extent but it does not mean that it the end all of the pandemic.

#hr #companyculture #covid19 #coronavirus #employeebenfts #topstories #employeengagement #HRleadership #vaccination #aarogya