I've recently had to give some thought to my personal position on employers enquiring into or requiring vaccinations for COVID.
My employer has tried to keep all staff up to date with local COVID news and information, assist anyone with staying up to date with changing laws and requirements and tried to work to keep everyone employed through lockdowns, slow business periods etc. All good stuff!
At one point the boss arranged for everyone to be able to get tested under a corporate arrangement, if they hadn't already. (I had).- And again, no issues with it.
Following the arrival of the vaccine the updates continued - again, all good - until last week, where an HR manager asked me if I had been called about my vaccination. I assumed that this was an enquiry in the same vein as before - where the company was trying to assist everyone in getting vaccinated if they wanted it. In my case I had recently been contacted by the vaccination team because I had been diagnosed positive back in December, so I was on their list. I told my manager that I hadn't been vaccinated yet but had been called and could handle the arrangements directly myself. - So far so good, again, I thought.
A few days later, the manager comes back to ask again if I had been vaccinated or knew the date for my vaccination. This started to bother me now. I had told him I had been called and would handle it. I didn't see any reason for the company to be involved from that point forward. Maybe they were just being thorough in ensuring people managed to get vaccinated but I definitely felt the vibe that it was more than that, but nothing was said.
Now today, everyone received an email pointing to an internal vaccine calendar listing all employees and the status of their vaccination with slots for the dates of the first and second does (where relevant).
I've responded to the HR manager with my own email explaining that I will not be entering any information into their form. That their assistance is appreciated but medical and healthcare are personal and private and I don't see any valid reason for having to enter personal information, even as simple as vaccination dates, on sheet open to all employees. Although frankly, I wouldn't even give that to my boss since it has nothing to do with him.
Now, I can see how some employers might see an interest in being able to confirm to clients that "all our employees are certified vaccinated" and might be afraid they'll lose business if they can't state that, but that, to me, is a scary perspective on society. Considering the fact that our company - which does have contact with the public - have not previously been required to make any declarations or confirmations about possible infectious or contagious diseases or conditions, I don't see why it should start now with COVID.
This strikes me as a serious invasion of privacy and I wonder whether it isn't illegal on some level.
But maybe I'm wrong. I thought I'd get some outside perspective.
I don't think I'm going to change my mind about the internal document. If it becomes a matter of my job security being threatened I might not make this a hill to die on, but I'm not going to use that open internal document. (Cloud-based via Google Drive, by the way).
I think this whole mindset is flat wrong. The vaccine is available. People should, as always, have a truly free choice about their medical and healthcare procedures. That's the right place to be IMO. Pressuring people to get vaccinated OR ELSE, is not a good move.