COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in the United States: a social justice policy

• Published in: Expert review of vaccines Vol. 21; no. 1; p. 37
• Main Authors: Hagan, K, Forman, R, Mossialos, Elias, Ndebele, Paul, Hyder, Adnan A, Nasir, Khurram
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 02.01.2022
• Subjects: COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 Vaccines - administration & dosage; Health Personnel - legislation & jurisprudence; Humans; Policy; Social Justice; United States - epidemiology; Vaccination - legislation & jurisprudence; United States; COVID-19; public health; health personnel; mandatory program; vaccination
• ISSN: 1744-8395
• DOI: 10.1080/14760584.2022.1999811

Vaccination is the most effective strategy to mitigating COVID-19 and restoring societal function. As the pandemic evolves with no certainty of a herd immunity threshold, universal vaccination of at-risk populations is desirable. However, vaccine hesitancy threatens the return to normalcy, and healthcare workers (HCWs) must embrace their ambassadorial role of shoring up vaccine confidence. Unfortunately, voluntary vaccination has been suboptimal among HCWs in the United States, a priority group for whom immunization is essential for maintaining health system capacity and the safety of high-risk patients in their care. Consequently, some health systems have implemented mandates to improve compliance. This article discusses the ethical and practical considerations of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies for HCWs utilizing some components of the World Health Organization's framework and the unique context of a pandemic with evolving infection dynamics. COVID-19 vaccine mandates for universal immunization of HCWs raise ethical and practical debates about their appropriateness, especially when the vaccines are pending full approval in most jurisdictions. Given the superiority of the vaccines to safety and testing protocols and their favorable safety profile, we encourage health systems to adopt vaccination mandates through participatory processes that address the concerns of stakeholders.