CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - With the first coronavirus vaccines set to become available soon, many are wondering if a business can require employees to get vaccinated.
Gov. Charlie Baker spoke with business leaders Wednesday and said he does not believe it will come down to that.
“We certainly are not talking about a mandate and I sincerely doubt you will find anybody in the employer community talking about one either,” he said.
Labor attorneys said they are waiting for clarification from the federal government on whether a mandate would be upheld in court.
“It is probably going to be legal for an employer to mandate a vaccine, but we are all waiting for guidance from the EEOC to confirm that,” Employment Attorney Robert Duston said.
Duston said that while it may be legal, he advises companies against mandates with so much still unknown about the length of the vaccine’s immunity.
“We don’t even know right now if Pfizer vaccine or others will be a true immunity lifetime or is it going to take two or three shots a year. How long is it going to last? We don’t know what kind of community and you don’t know how long it’s going to last then how are you going to use a one-time only requirement,” he explained.
Baker said employers should offer more resources to employees rather than make mandates when it comes to vaccines.
“I do think people are going to want to make sure that if they can provide guidance, provide info, push people to trusted sources for data and information, they’re going to want to do that as this all plays out over the next six or nine months,” he said.
Pfizer is expected to soon get emergency approval for its vaccine candidate.
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