The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has done a survey of unimmunized workers that have shown that employees who have not taken COVID19 shots yet have said that they wish to quit their jobs if they will be forced to take the vaccines. The survey that is considered a think tank on health issues has found that nearly 72 percent of unvaccinated participants have said that they will quit their jobs if their employers follow the federal rule to mandate COVID19 shots and do not offer a testing option. About 37 percent of unimmunized workers have said that they will quit their jobs if their employers mandate COVID19 vaccination or force them to undergo weekly COVID19 testing. The US government has drafted the workplace safety ruling, which says that all businesses with 100 or more workers need to make the COVID19 vaccine mandatory or require testing their employees for COVID19 weekly. The officials from the US government have said that the rule will apply to around 80 million employees working in the United States, that is two-thirds of all working-class people across the country. Health experts who have carried out the survey have said that if the surveyed unimmunized workers pursue their threats to quit their jobs, it will result in nearly 5 percent to 9 percent of working-class people leaving their jobs in the US; but it depends on what rule they run into at their workplace. Nevertheless, experts have said that the findings of the survey have come with a huge caution that many uninoculated workers who have threatened to quit might not leave their jobs. The vice president and head of public opinion and survey research at the Kaiser Family Foundation, Dr. Liz Hamel has said that what people reply in surveys and how they will react to the loss of jobs are two different things.
Health officials have reported that many major employers such as United Airlines and Tyson Foods that have made COVID19 vaccination compulsory at their organizations have seen that almost all their workers have complied with the mandate. The new survey has found that nearly 24 percent of people enrolled in the survey have said that they know someone who has quit their job due to the vaccine mandate. Around 5 percent of unimmunized adults have said that they have actually left their jobs due to their employers’ vaccine mandate. Experts have said that people who have said that they have left their work signify only 1 percent of all adults in the United States. The survey has enrolled more than 1500 adults from the US. They have used telephonic interviews for the survey. The findings of the survey appear to be troublesome for the job market in the US, said the experts. It has become hard for employers to find and retain employees. A record number of job openings have outnumbered the number of people looking for jobs. The Labor Department of the US has released data that has shown that people have been leaving their jobs at a record pace. Earlier this year, many employers have been hesitant to impose a vaccine mandate due to the fear of losing workers who do not want to take the shots or undergo testing for COVID19 frequently. Considering the scenario, many business groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable have extended their support to the federal rules, as there have been fewer odds of losing employees if other employers as well have followed the same rule. Recently, a number of other business groups have expressed their concerns that the vaccine mandate might add to the country’s already besieged supply chain issues if unimmunized employees start quitting their jobs.
Some analysts have said that a number of police personnel and fire departments across the US where vaccine mandate is about to be imposed might see staff shortage as huge numbers of people are yet to get the vaccine in their ranks. Dr. Liz Hamel has said that the opposition to rulings that are linked to COVID19 is not surprising. She has said that it has been hard for many people who have not been vaccinated to book an appointment for COVID19 shots earlier this year. However, nearly 72 percent of adults have at least taken the first dose of their two-dose vaccine regime. Now, with the increased availability of COVID19 shots, remaining unvaccinated adults are trying everything to dodge the vaccine thinking vaccination is not good for them. As per the latest data, employer vaccine mandate has become quite common now. The survey has found that nearly 25 percent of surveyed employees have said that their employers have imposed a vaccine mandate and need them to be vaccinated. A survey that has been released in the month of June has shown that 9 percent of workers have confessed their employers need them to be immunized against COVID19. The government officials have revealed that some employers such as government contractors and the majority of health care employees mandatorily need to be vaccinated against COVID19 without the option of being tested frequently. They have said that federal workers as well need to get the COVID19 shots in order to comply with the federal ruling. Some other employers specifically those who think it is too hard and costly for them to organize an extensive testing program as well might need to impose the vaccine mandate without providing the testing option to their workers. The CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby has said that it will be troublesome for airline operations and passengers to conduct regular testing. He has said that if an airline might see thousands of workers testing positive for COVID19 if it conducts regular testing and these workers might not get their test results on time to report to the office. It will lead to multiple service-related issues and flight cancellations. United Airlines has revealed that workers who have been immunized are very hesitant to work long with people who are not vaccinated yet. As per the report, around 97 percent of United Airline workers have taken the vaccine complying with the federal rule and about 3 percent of 67000 united Airlines employees in the US have applied for religious or medical exemptions. The officials from Tyson Foods have said that nearly 96 percent of its 120000 US workers have taken the vaccine complying with the vaccine mandate.
