About a third of restaurant, hotel and other hospitality workers don’t intend to be vaccinated against COVID-19, largely because of fears about the aftereffects, according to a survey conducted by the workforce technology company Harri.
The canvass of 4,250 current and recent employees indicates that 57% of those currently refusing to roll up their sleeves are worried about the side effects. About 46% say they intend to wait for verification that the shots are effective in protecting them from COVID, and 22% declared themselves disbelievers in any sort of vaccination.
The numbers suggest that restaurateurs hoping to get their whole teams vaccinated against COVID may face considerable difficulties. Yet employers have taken little action to get buy-in from their workers, according to the data. Ninety percent of the surveyed employees said they’ve not discussed the prospect of being vaccinated with their bosses.
Some restaurant employers have expressed hopes that vaccinations will become widespread in the business and thereby allay consumers' fears about contracting coronavirus from the staff while dining in a restaurant.
The research indicates that discussions of whether or not to be vaccinated are currently moot. Only 15% of the respondents said they’d currently be eligible for the inoculations under the distribution policies of their state or local governments.
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