COVID-19 Update: Employer Vaccination Programs

With the Covid-19 pandemic now over 11 months long, employers have been challenged to implement COVID health resources to protect their employees and allow return to the workplace safely. Finally vaccinations have become available, so now the focus is how to manage implementation and the documentation process for their workforce.

Top 5 Questions for Employers

  1. Which entity will be responsible for procurement of the vaccine?
  2. What are the reporting requirements to the CDC and to local state agencies?
  3. Will vaccine administration be performed by a reputable company, with qualified staff who has managed onsite vaccination programs in the past?
  4. What are the legal (CDC / EEOC) guidelines and procedural hurdles for offering vaccinations to your employees?
  5. What is the documentation process or platform that can manage scheduling of appointments, reminders, data tracking, and verification of vaccinations as onsite at your company and for those employees who receive the vaccination elsewhere?

Venue

Employers have several options when it comes to offering their employees vaccinations. Onsite events are effective in moving the needle but may not be practical if your organization doesn’t have the space needed to properly social distance or if you are on a staggered/WFH schedule. Labs and retail locations are going to play an important role in the disbursement of vaccines to leverage their reach in order to bring us to herd immunity as quickly as possible. Our health systems will also play a role at the local level to deploy clinicians into the community.

Strategy

Does your organization have an overall return to work strategy that incorporates important touchpoints other than vaccinations? For example, a comprehensive approach should include providing access to nurse case managers to help guide and triage testing where necessary. Some organizations will utilize Contact Tracing or Infrared hardware to limit the potential spread of the virus while onsite and to appropriately notify those who may have been exposed. Other approaches have been to install barriers, implement staggered work schedules, and rethink the physical workspace. Many employers are offering on demand home test kits, so their employees have access to testing resources.

Technology

There are now software platforms available which allow employers the ability to handle everything from daily symptom checking, to ordering tests, verifying results, and tracking vaccinations in an administrative dashboard. Employers can have access to real time customized reporting and send reminders for common occurrences like exposure notifications, updates to protocols, or even reminders about when 2nd dosages are due. Drilling down by location or supervisor level is an effective means to enable fast communication up, down, and across teams. This is an especially critical feature since information is being dispersed at a lightning pace and recommendations coming from the CDC and State Health Departments has and will continue to be updated regularly.

Vaccination only software is now available to help employers verify when your employees may have been vaccinated offsite or through another provider by uploading the CDC card. These platforms have the capability to track important data which can be shared with the CDC as well as the ability to push reminders to employees. Employees also have access to their vaccination status which can be displayed by scanning a QR code or NFC tag affixed to an employee badge. In addition to this platform being used by individual employer groups, it can also be customized to accommodate multiple groups including for clinicians and wellness companies procuring and distributing vaccinations.

Four COVID Vaccines Compared

Source: Four COVID Vaccines Compared (webmd.com) Last Updated 1/29/21