Vaccine Mandates Survey Reveals Discordant Views May Fuel Challenges in Tight Labor Market

DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- BioSpace, the leader in biopharma news and careers today released a report that found 80% of unvaccinated respondents would resign if their employer required them to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Vaccine Mandates report also revealed that 67% of employers, who have or will enact a COVID-19 vaccine mandate indicated that they would consider terminating an employee if they refused to receive a vaccine.

Such opposing stances on vaccine mandates may fuel more challenges in an already tight labor market.

More than 90% of the unvaccinated respondents indicated they do not want to work for a company that has a vaccine mandate.

Additionally, the report also found that biopharma employers may be overestimating the number of employees they think to be vaccinated.

Only 70% of respondents were vaccinated, while 65% of employers thought more than 90% of their employee base was vaccinated, and 75% thought more than 80% of their employee base was vaccinated.

Of those surveyed, 41% of biopharma employers have already enacted vaccine mandates and 38% have enacted testing programs.

A significant number of respondents still had many questions for their employers. And almost a third of all employee respondents think their employer has not adequately answered their questions on vaccine mandates and testing programs.

There were common themes in questions, including adverse reaction policies, boosters, exemptions, natural immunity, terminations, testing policy inconsistencies, and remote worker policies.

The full report including data referenced in this release, is available to download here.

About the Survey

BioSpace’s proprietary vaccine mandates survey was conducted to explore life sciences professionals’ and employers’ current perspectives and experiences with COVID-19 vaccine and testing mandates. BioSpace reached out to life science professionals to gather insight on controversial COVID-19 mandates and testing programs. Conducted in October 2021, BioSpace surveyed both professionals and employers in the industry collecting over 800 responses.

About BioSpace

BioSpace is the leading source for careers and news for life sciences professionals in the United States. Since 1985, BioSpace has provided essential insights, opportunities and tools to connect innovative life sciences organizations and talented professionals who advance health and quality of life across the world.

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