Employees and employers will need to find common ground so that mandatory workplace vaccination is better understood and accepted, not felt.

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Compulsory workplace vaccination policies appear to be the looming norm. Implementing policies with more buy-in and less coercion, however, can come down to understanding what lies at the heart of vaccine hesitancy.

Conflict resolution consultant Andre Vlok says employers should recognize that the decision to vaccinate is also about identity and personal values. It opens up space for different conversations and can frame a more widely accepted policy.

“If I discuss the facts with you in a values-based conflict, then ironically, and quite counter-intuitively, I make it worse.

“Cautious employers don’t say they are pro-vaccination, but say they are pro-science and pro-proof and their vaccination policy aims to manage the consequences of employee decisions if employees choose not to. accept what science says about vaccinations work, ”says Vlok.

A mandatory layered vaccination policy, he says, is one that keeps the door open for emerging science and new discoveries to be incorporated into policy as it is changed in a rapidly changing Covid-19 landscape. “The policies right now are still absolute work in progress, but they need to be in place as a strategic business plan – much like a business with a social media policy or an anti-harassment policy on it. workplace. “

He adds, however, that policies should also be unequivocal in what they strive to achieve. “It’s not about being nice; it is not a kumbaya time where everyone is sitting around a fire; it’s about looking at potential legal liability and business implications, and marrying that with good old-fashioned dispute resolution.

Currently available solutions for employees who choose not to be vaccinated are options for working from home, if applicable; that they submit, at their own expense, to regular Covid-19 tests to prove that they do not present a danger to their colleagues and other people in their workplace; or create designated work areas for unvaccinated staff.

Earlier this month, medical aid giant Discovery became the first public company in South Africa to announce mandatory vaccination of its staff by January 2022. Several other companies and institutions have since followed suit. .

A slight increase is expected as companies gradually adopt return-to-work strategies. This given that 16 million people in South Africa have been vaccinated and accessibility to vaccination continues to improve.

Dr Ron Whelan, head of Discovery’s Covid-19 task force and chief commercial officer, said in early September that even when the company started the ball rolling in South Africa, a mandatory vaccination policy in their business would not have couldn’t get there early enough.

“Covid-19 is an unprecedented human tragedy when you consider that in the past 18 months we have had 240,000 more deaths than before the Covid years, while we had around 600,000 more deaths in the during this period, “he said.

Whelan said the company’s vaccination policy meets the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act to protect employees from biohazards – the coronavirus – but is also a “social and moral obligation” to its employees. 11,000 staff across the continent.

According to Whelan, the overwhelming number of employees “showed a lot of support and there was a tremendous sense of relief.” A small fraction, he said, needed more information about the vaccine; including dispelling misinformation and myths and there was a “handful of objections on religious grounds”.

Financial services firm Sanlam Investments is another large company that has announced that by January 2022 all of its South African employees – around 20,100 people – will need to be vaccinated to return to the workplace.

The company describes its vaccination policy as “a legal obligation to provide our employees with a working environment that does not present risks to their health and safety.” We also have an obligation to ensure that our employees do not harm third parties such as our customers through their interactions, ”according to communications manager Allim Milazi.

Milazi said “exceptional cases with valid reasons (such as medical reasons)” would be taken into account.

“The policy will recognize the right of these employees to object to vaccination, and a process to manage these exceptions will be put in place as we navigate its implementation over the next few months,” a- she declared.

It must take into account the constitutional rights of their employees to bodily integrity and the right to freedom of religion, belief and opinion. Another relevant right is that everyone has the right to an environment which is not harmful to their health or well-being.

Universities that are employers, education service providers, and institutions with high public participation are also striving to develop policies quickly in time for the 2022 academic year (which is again expected to have a delayed start l ‘next year).

In early September, the South African Committee of Deans of Physicians and the South African Committee of Dental Deans recommended compulsory vaccination against Covid-19 for health students and all health care workers..

They also recommended that all healthcare workers who have received a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine be boosted.

The University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand have indicated that they intend to implement mandatory vaccination policies for staff and students that will take effect by January 2022.

The decisions are currently being debated at Senate level in both universities. As expected, there remains an outcry over a violation of individual constitutional rights and a vaccination policy unfairly disadvantaging those who choose not to vaccinate.

Objections have already been raised by the youth league of the Solidarity union. Solidarité Jeunesse said in a statement that it “would not hesitate to act on behalf of its members against any university that wants to make Covid-19 vaccination compulsory for students”.

Paul Maritz, director of Solidarity Youth, said in a statement: “Solidarity Youth supports incentives that will encourage students to get immunized, but regulations that restrict people’s rights can in no way be supported. “

Professor Ames Dhai of the Steve Biko Center for Bioethics at the University of Wits and Vice Chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Committee for Covid-19 Vaccines posted on the SAcoronavirus portal in September her on the issues of the balance of rights in the workplace. Dhai writes that employers are obligated to undertake risk assessments to determine whether compulsory workplace vaccination in accordance with Sections 8 and 9 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act is a necessity.

“It must take into account the constitutional rights of their employees to bodily integrity and the right to freedom of religion, belief and opinion. Another relevant right is that everyone has the right to an environment which is not harmful to their health or well-being.

“Most rights enshrined in the Constitution can be limited, provided the limitation is of general application and is ‘reasonable and justifiable’. It could be argued that, supported by scientific evidence and the rights of all people to a safe environment, it would be “reasonable and justifiable” to require workers in certain workplaces to take a vaccine that is available and approved for use. by SA Health Products. Regulatory authority. “

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has also urged employers to improve vaccine reluctance programs and provide support for better information and access to immunization prior to vaccination. implement mandatory workplace vaccination policies.

The chairman of SAHRC lawyer Bongani Majola emphasizes that a person’s decision to be vaccinated must be voluntary. He added that they expect challenges to arise in the coming months from employees who feel they are unfairly expected to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs or their lives. work opportunities. Majola said the SAHRC would be guided in defending these challenges by respecting the constitutional protection of rights. SM / MC