Vaccination pressure from employers has adverse effect

New research into vaccine uptake among health and social care workers has found that those who felt under greater pressure from their employers to receive the vaccine were more likely to decline it.

Led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in collaboration with the RCN, NHS Race and Health Observatory and Public Health England, the study surveyed nearly 2,000 participants. As part of the study, participants were asked what level of agreement they had with the statement ‘I feel/felt under pressure from my employer to get a Covid-19 vaccine’ on a 4-point scale from (1) strongly disagree to (4) strongly agree.

For each additional point of agreement on the scale, participants were 75 per cent more likely to have declined vaccination.

Amongst unvaccinated participants, worrying concerns were raised about how their vaccination decision might impact their job security. For social care workers, pressure was exacerbated by hearing of care sector employers making vaccination mandatory for staff, and the vulnerability of social care worker positions.

The RCN believes all health and social care staff should have the coronavirus vaccination to help protect themselves, their patients and their friends and family. However, the college does not believe making vaccination compulsory is the right approach. Feeling pressurised is proven to have damaging effects, erodes trust and negatively affects relationships at work.

Helen Donovan, RCN Professional Lead for Public Health, said: "We are proud to have worked on this important study to better understand the attitudes, experiences and concerns of health and social care workers to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

"As this evidence shows, there are better ways to improve vaccine uptake in staff who have concerns than mandating them. These include support from experienced peers who we know instil confidence in their colleagues. We also know that making sure the vaccines are easily accessible during the working day is an essential part of improving uptake. Being vaccine hesitant doesn’t mean people will never get the vaccine which is why supportive conversations are also key.”