Employers may hold key to COVID vaccinations
Majority would get jabbed if work-mandated
OTTAWA • Though most Canadians don’t support mandatory vaccination, an overwhelming majority say they’ll get the vaccine if their employer makes it necessary in order to keep their job, a new poll reveals.
In total, 80 per cent of Canadians say they would agree to get vaccinated if their employer required them to do so, reveals a Léger poll conducted in late January on behalf of the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS).
The impressively high number was eye-opening for ACS CEO and president Jack Jedwab, who says he was initially surprised at how many respondents were ready to accept such a corporate vaccine policy.
That’s because a poll he commissioned just one month previous showed that Canadians were mostly cold at the idea of the federal government making a COVID-19 vaccine mandatory to all residents. (In total, 40 per cent thought it should be mandatory, whereas 55 per cent wanted it to be voluntary.)
“What struck me was the distinction between the extent to which the population feels that should be mandatory and the extent to which they’re willing to submit to getting vaccinated when their employer requires them to do so,” Jedwab said in an interview.
ultimately, he says, it’s likely because people understandably respond much more to potential consequences to their employment than mandatory government policy.
“We’re talking about your livelihood. you know, that’s at the top of the list of priorities for most people,” Jedwab said.
but he says his data raises a new question: instead of thinking about making vaccination mandatory, should the federal government mobilize employers to make sure the country hits the critical mass of vaccination that would end the rampant spread and thread of the COVID-19 virus?
Absolutely, Jedwab says, pointing to the fact that some major employers in the united States have already demonstrated their willingness to contribute to vaccination efforts.
united Airlines CEO Scott Kirby announced in January that the company was “strongly considering” making vaccines compulsory for staff who would want to continue working there.
“I think the right thing to do is for united Airlines, and for other companies, to require the vaccines and to make them mandatory,” Kirby said, according to a transcript reported by reuters.
“If others go along and are willing to start to mandate vaccines, you should probably expect united to be amongst the first wave of companies that do it.”
Jedwab says many Canadian companies would likely follow suit, and that the Trudeau government should be encouraging them — as well as community groups and civil leaders — to do so.
“employers could play a critical role because of their capacity to get employees to vaccinate. It can be essential,” he said.
“To reach the required population immunity level in order to go back to a more normal life is going to take a concerted effort that will involve employers as well as civil society leaders.”
despite the high number of Canadians who would get a vaccine if their employer required it, the remaining 20 per cent are quite on the opposite side of the spectrum of acceptance.
In fact, half of those opposed said they would file an official complaint against their employer should that occur, whereas one quarter of them (so five per cent of all respondents) say they would start looking for a new job right away.
“Those who are against it are definitely staunchly opposed to it,” Jedwab said. “This is certainly an important critical question going forward.”
“Of course, if you’re an anti-vaxxer and you’re in that situation, it’s going to be very hard to work through this and I suspect employers will be sensitive to some exceptional situations.”
His data also notes a slight difference in responses between provinces, whereas Quebecers are the least likely to accept the idea that their employer makes vaccination mandatory (though they are just as ready to get vaccinated voluntarily as the rest of Canadians).
“Quebecers seem a bit more resistant to the idea, whereas the most support for the idea is with Ontarians and Atlantic Canadians. That is interesting because Atlantic Canada has the lowest number of cases and Quebec has the highest number of cases per capita,” he noted.