Private sector vaccine mandates are high now, but federal action is needed to fill the gaps

The worldwide COVID-19 epidemic will not be contained in the near future. Increasingly contagious variants of SARSCoV-2 are already prevalent throughout the United States, and still other potent variants will continue to emerge.[1-3] Even though two-thirds of the U.S. adult population has received at least one vaccine dose, vaccination rates remain highly variable across and within states.[4-6] Cumulative vaccination rates will continue to level off as the supply of vaccines begins to surpass remaining demand.[7] After declining precipitously, the incidence of new COVID-19 cases has now plateaued and even increased in some states.[8] The risks for unvaccinated people appear to be increasing,[9] and new outbreaks continue to be reported.[10, 11]

Under these conditions, the foreseeable risk of an outbreak at a college campus with in-person learning or a worksite with on-site employees remains ever-present and substantial. Such an outbreak would prove disastrous for an educational institution or a business firm, and could have significant negative spillover effects on surrounding communities.[12] When it comes to hospitals, clinics, long-term-care facilities and other healthcare providers, the risk that an infected employee, patient or visitor could in turn cause an outbreak among vulnerable patients is simply too great to bear.

Workplace and college vaccination policies can play an important role in reducing the risks of future outbreaks. While some federal agencies have recently issued their own guidelines on employee vaccinations, the Biden administration has yet to adopt a unified position and, in fact, has announced that it will not track vaccinations at the federal level or require a uniform vaccination credential.[13] Nor have state governments readily stepped in to fill the void. This vacuum in clearly articulated federal and state policies has left college and university presidents, healthcare administrators, company CEOs and small business owners with an enormous economic incentive to create their own mechanisms to prevent outbreaks. At present, private-sector workplace policies range from strict vaccination mandates to mask requirements and other safety precautions for unvaccinated employees. As we see it, the economic forces of supply and demand increasingly point to vaccine mandates as the dominant — and, in fact, the preferred — workplace policy option.