How Soon Can You Expect the COVID Vaccine to Be Available to Your Employees?

With two COVID vaccines available in the U.S. as of February 2021, healthcare workers, nursing home residents, and other vulnerable people are already receiving them. Once these people are vaccinated, frontline essential workers, people over 65, and other select groups should be next in line. As an accounting & finance manager, you may be wondering what this could mean for your team. If you are still working remotely, odds are you want to get back to the office at least partially and resume some normalcy.

Here’s how soon your team members may be able to receive the COVID vaccine.

The Public Might Get Vaccines in Spring

According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, if an estimated quarter of US residents is fully vaccinated by late Spring or early Summer 2021, then healthy members of the general public may be able to get vaccinated more quickly than originally thought. The distribution would still take place over several months.

Employer Guidance May Increase Vaccination Efforts

Employers have the right to require employees to get vaccinated as a condition of returning to the office. This may help staff overcome their reluctance to get the vaccine as soon as possible. However, making something in the workplace mandatory typically leads to less desirable results than keeping it voluntary. Employees may object for reasons related to religion, ethics, disability, pregnancy, allergic reactions to previous vaccinations, or other issues. Instead, weekly COVID testing may become common for those returning to the office.

Continue to Wear a Mask

The process of vaccinating hundreds of millions of people to develop herd immunity is expected to take months. In fact, Fauci believes that 75-85% of the U.S. would need to be vaccinated by Fall 2021 to get back to some degree of normalcy. Ideally, the majority of people would need to get vaccinated to stunt or completely stop the outbreak. With the recent reports of new COVID-19 strains occurring throughout the world, social distancing, wearing masks, and vaccinations may remain the norm for some time.

Recommendations for Your Accounting and Finance Team

Although the COVID vaccine may be available to the general public in Spring 2021, there is no guarantee that everyone will want it. Also, even though employers can make vaccination a requirement to return to the office, staff members may object for religious, ethical, or other reasons. A better solution may require regularly scheduled COVID testing along with mask-wearing, social distancing, and other health standards to stop the spread.

Whether working remotely or on-site, enhance your accounting & finance team with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources help. Our in-depth understanding of the industry’s necessary functions and competencies and a role ensures that only highly qualified candidates are presented for your review. Contact us today.