The employer’s role in creating a COVID-19 testing and vaccination infrastructure
As we look ahead to a COVID-19 vaccine, employers will be well-positioned to support a large-scale vaccination effort.
Employers throughout the country play a critical role in protecting their workers’ health – particularly this time of year. Nearly half (49%) of all Americans receive health care benefits through their workplace, making employers part and parcel of many Americans’ understanding and engagement with the health care system. Employers also get the added benefit of keeping their workforce healthy and productive.
Related: Can employers require employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine?
Employers play a particularly important role this time of year by making the influenza vaccine available to employees at no cost through annual workplace immunization clinics. Historically, about 25% of American adults have been vaccinated against flu this way. Over time, employer-coordinated vaccination efforts have become a critical lever in our national influenza preparedness. Now, we need to bring the same robust strength and efficiency to our COVID-19 response, through both testing and, when available, vaccination.
Many employers have already initiated testing programs in an effort to responsibly bring employees back to the worksite. Over the past several months, my team has worked closely with more than 80 employers and universities across a range of industries to support their return to workplace and campus strategies with our configurable testing solution, Return Ready. For example, Delta Air Lines is providing employee COVID-19 testing with a rapid-response option for flight crews to help build confidence about traveling with Delta among employees and customers alike.
Here at CVS Health, colleague health and wellbeing remain our top priority. We’ve implemented a range of options to meet various needs throughout the organization, including retail and onsite point-of-care testing in high-density locations where physical distancing can be difficult. And we continue to enhance and adjust our workplace safety measures as our operational needs change, as the pandemic evolves and based on the latest guidance from public health officials and our own internal clinical experts.
As we look ahead to a COVID-19 vaccine, employers will be well-positioned to support a large-scale vaccination effort. Employers already play a critical role in educating and engaging their employees and could be particularly effective when a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available and accessible. Achieving widespread immunity will depend on awareness and education around the COVID-19 vaccine. By helping employees overcome any apprehensions or barriers to access, employers can help move the country forward, ensuring businesses can drive economic growth, and hopefully, a return to a more normal way of life.
Of course, there are many unknowns at this point, which make thinking through a potential distribution plan difficult. With over 200 vaccines in development, we can assume that multiple vaccines will be made available, each with different efficacy and safety profiles and eligible populations. Depending on which vaccines get approved, some could involve refrigeration, freezing or even ultra-cold storage. These transportation and storage needs may determine how and where the vaccines can be given. We will also need to initiate a phased approach to ensure that individuals with the greatest need, such as high-risk health workers, other essential workers and people with underlying medical conditions, are immunized first.
Just as employers have supported influenza preparedness, they can build on the infrastructure they’ve already created for immunizations to support the national COVID-19 testing and vaccination infrastructure that is still needed.
I’m grateful to the many employers who are taking a leadership role in COVID-19 testing, and who will undoubtedly do the same with COVID-19 vaccination. By showing their employees a genuine concern for their health and helping them understand the importance of these measures, we will begin to turn the corner in the fight against this deadly illness. We look forward to working with businesses over the coming months to help build the infrastructure needed to get our country back on track.
Sree Chaguturu, M.D., is senior vice president of CVS Health and chief medical officer of CVS Caremark.
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