Many workers are facing compulsory Covid vaccination or no job

As more and more people return to the workplace following months of working from home, the question of one’s vaccination status is becoming increasingly relevant and, in an increasing number of cases, a condition of employment.

In both the U.S. and Europe there are a growing number of jobs and sectors which are now requiring people to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 — not only in the more obvious public-facing roles like healthcare and education but also in the technology, hospitality, travel and finance sectors.

When Covid vaccine rollouts began in the U.S. and Europe around nine months ago, the majority of the workforce had to wait in line to receive a shot, with the elderly and healthcare workers prioritized.

But vaccinations in high-income countries have since become more accessible to all adults and employers have encouraged their staff to be immunized, both for their workers health and to get their businesses back to normal.

As vaccination drives roll out to the remaining sections of society that are not yet immunized — mainly adolescents — those adults that remain unvaccinated could find it increasingly difficult to return to work, or find employment in some sectors and companies.

In a significantly stricter tone, Biden outlined a plan last Thursday to boost Covid vaccination rates nationwide, pressuring private employers to immunize their workforce as well as mandating the shots for federal employees, contractors and health-care workers.

The share of job postings requiring vaccination has skyrocketed since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Aug. 23, according to jobs site Indeed, showing a growing trend among employers requiring candidates to be fully immunized.

“A few weeks ago, job postings on Indeed requiring vaccination started to take off and have accelerated since,” AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab noted, adding that in the seven days through to Aug. 30, the share of postings per million specifically requiring vaccination against Covid rose 119% from the previous month.

Job postings that required vaccination but did not specify Covid followed the same trend, up 242% over the same period. Nonetheless, Indeed noted that such postings requiring vaccination represented less than 1% of all job ads on its site, although it indicated that number could rise

Read more: As many return to the office, tensions flare between the ‘vaxxed and unvaxxed’

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