Even as thousands of Americans die every day of Covid-19, many people resist being inoculated with a life-saving vaccine. In many cases this is due to misinformation circulating among people, and in other cases people fear getting a shot more than they fear dying of Covid-19. The people in the first category need to receive better information. Those in the second category need to have a better appreciation of the relative risks between getting the disease and having the vaccination that will protect them from it.

In the United States, people eat a lot of chicken.  Yes, the company founded by Col. Harlan Sanders purveys a lot of chicken, but the real heavyweight in the business is a company named Tyson Foods. On August 3, Tyson management announced that all of its 120,000 workers would have to be vaccinated. At the time, less than half of their workforce had been vaccinated. Less than two months later, 91% had been vaccinated. The other nine percent will either be vaccinated soon or they will lose their jobs. Office workers have until October 1 (that’s today), and frontline workers have until November 1.

When faced with the harsh reality of losing their jobs, it seems that many people will do what they should, to protect themselves and those around them, but would not do so without that extra motivation. Of course, they can tell themselves that they can always find another job. This may not be the case. When other employers see that the vaccination mandate is working at Tyson Foods, they may be emboldened to follow Tyson’s lead. Early in the pandemic, Tyson lost a lot of workers to Covid-19. They don’t want that to happen again, which gave them the resolve to enforce their mandatory vaccination policy.

Tyson Foods is not alone in this. 99% of United Airlines workforce has been vaccinated. In California, over 90% of health care workers have been vaccinated. President Biden has directed the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) to order large employers to make vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory. It has become clear, to at least some politicians, that vaccination is the best way out of the pandemic, minimizing symptomatic disease and loss of life. Let’s hope that leadership from large employers such as Tyson Foods and United Airlines will start a tidal wave of support for prioritizing the health and safety of their employees and their families by stepping up and mandating life-saving vaccination.

BIO:

Allen G. Taylor is a 40-year veteran of the computer industry and the author of over 40 books, including Develop Microsoft HoloLens Apps Now, Get Fit with Apple Watch, Cruise for Free, SQL For Dummies, 9th Edition, Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies, Database Development For Dummies, Access Power Programming with VBA, and SQL All-In-One For Dummies, Third Edition. He lectures internationally on astronomy, databases, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He also teaches database development and Crystal Reports through a leading online education provider. For the latest news on Allen’s activities, check out his blog at wwwallengtaylor.com or contact him at allen.taylor@ieee.org