The response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve across the country and the world. The latest measure includes vaccination mandates for a vast array of organizations, including staff of governmental departments, large employers, and healthcare institutions. In the United States, it is estimated that the new vaccine rules could apply to as many as 100 million Americans, constituting approximately two-thirds of the US workforce. These mandates include all employees of federal contractors, most employees in health care settings, and private-sector employees in companies that employ 100 or more individuals. OSHA will be enacting emergency authority to ensure compliance in businesses, while an Interim Final Rule will come into play in October, giving CMS power to enforce the vaccination ruling pertaining to healthcare workers.
Under this new directive, many organizations now face the potentially daunting task of accurately tracking the administration of vaccinations to each employee. This entails initial doses and subsequent second doses that may be required. An excellent option for managing these efforts is a Cloud-Based EH&S Software suite that features the capability to accurately track this critical information. The most comprehensive of these software options provide the ability to set deadlines, generate email reminders, and allow lower or mid-level supervisors access to the progress of their individual team’s vaccination efforts.
Much like the management of various safety training requirements or occupational health information, COVID-19 vaccinations can be tracked on a user-by-user basis. In the event of an entire organization requiring vaccination, the process may take place as follows:
- All employees from the organization are entered into the system and an individual requirement is assigned for their initial vaccination dose.
- A deadline is established for all employees to receive their first dose. If those employees have not received that dose by the set date, the system generates an automatic email notification as a reminder of this requirement.
- As employees receive their first dose, they submit proof to company administrators, who mark the initial requirement as having been completed.
- An achievable deadline is included for the completion of the second dose (except in the case of the J&J/Janssen single-dose vaccine). An additional email notification is generated if the second dose requirement is not met before the deadline.
- The first and second doses are complete and the employee can verify their compliance. Later, the same process may be reproduced for the inclusion of vaccine boosters.
In many organizations, it may also be beneficial for individuals other than upper-level administrators to have access to the progress of corporate vaccination efforts. Safety software systems can enable supervisors and managers at lower/mid-levels to view the vaccination status of their rosters in real-time, just as they would monitor a team member’s safety training status.
The final, and perhaps most impressive utility of a robust, Cloud-Based EH&S Software platform is the capacity to create dashboards and analytics. Considering the sheer volume of necessary data, it would be valuable for administrators to easily analyze the relevant information and gauge the success of their organization’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Instantly viewing statistics such as on-time vaccination rates, percentages of fully versus partially-vaccinated employees, and even department-by-department vaccination rates can be essential to prepare reports and summaries for regulators and other stakeholders.
AUTHOR BIO
Joe comes to the SafetyStratus team with over 15 years of experience in the biological sciences and laboratory management and safety. At the University of Connecticut, and later at the University of the Sciences, Joe managed multiple high-volume biology teaching laboratories. He also worked as an Aquatic Biologist for the Philadelphia Water Department’s Office of Watersheds. Most recently Joe held the position of Laboratory Safety Manager in the University of the Sciences’ Environmental Health & Safety Department, overseeing all aspects of safety inspections and compliance in over 150 campus teaching and research spaces.
Originally from Connecticut, Joe has lived in the Philadelphia suburbs for the last 10 years. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and Biology from the University of Maine at Fort Kent. In his free time, Joe enjoys working out, taking in good football game or movie, and traveling with his wife to sunny Caribbean destinations whenever possible.
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