COVID-19 pandemic has impacted several industries along with the health of people all over the world. Further, due to its contagious nature, several restrictions have been imposed on various activities for reducing the spread of the virus. Not only this but also the government of several nations and even businesses of various domains have taken measures for the prevention of the virus. One of these includes the consideration of insisting employees have a certificate of their COVID status. You may check here to comprehend what the COVID status certificate is. Also, while this kind of certificate would be useful for reducing the spread of the virus, this topic continues to be debatable. Therefore, this article will consider several aspects with regard to the businesses insisting their employees have a certificate illustrating their COVID status.
What is a COVID status certificate?
As their names suggest, the certificates of COVID status are associated with the status of the COVID-19 virus of an individual. This includes if the person has been vaccinated, has recently been tested negative, or is immune to the virus naturally. The natural immunity of the individuals is determined by their infection to the virus. This means that if an individual has been infected by the COVID-19 virus in the past six months, they are considered to be naturally immune to the virus. Thus, the certificates associated with the status of COVID help in finding out if the individual is infected or likely to be infected any sooner from the virus.
Insisting Employees to have a COVID status certificate
The certificates of the COVID status to be had by the employees based on the insisting of businesses is a question of an ethical dilemma. This is because even though the certificates would help in gaining information that would be beneficial for the remaining employees of the company as well as for the surrounding of the employees, these certificates, in a way, force the employees to get themselves vaccinated or keep themselves updated regarding their status of COVID. It should be the choice of an individual whether they should be vaccinated or not and if they really wish to share their past infection status.
Can COVID status certificates be useful for businesses?
The extent to which the person was infected by COVID determines the extent to which he or she is immune to the virus. Furthermore, even though the certificates of status consider that the person is naturally immune to the virus after 6 months of being infected, it may majorly depend on the extent to which they were infected and the antibodies were formed in them. Apart from this, with regard to being vaccinated, the kind of vaccine that is injected into the individual also determines their ability to stay immune from the virus. Different vaccines have different levels of efficiency as well as a variety of responses to the kinds of virus’s genetic variants. Thus, the certificate only states the date of jab, if a second jab was given, and the country in which it was given. It does not state if the vaccine was extremely effective or least effective. Therefore, for the status of COVID, one cannot completely be dependent on the status that the COVID status certificate demonstrates.
Should Businesses insist their Employees to have a COVID status Certificate?
Based on the above-understood information, it is clear that a COVID status certificate is not as useful as it sounds to be and that the immunity of individuals to the virus may vary from one person to another based on their extent of being infected or on the basis of the vaccine that they were injected with. Further, the number of jabs also determines the immunity of an individual to the virus. Nonetheless, if the individual has neither been infected from COVID nor been vaccinated, the COVID status certificate may be useful for the company since it demonstrates that the individual is not immune to the virus and may get infected from the virus easily as compared to others who have been infected and recovered or the ones who have been vaccinated.
The Bottom Line
Since insisting employees for having a COVID status certificate can be an unethical practice and may not even be a very efficient process, the businesses must wait for the directions of the government regarding the same. In case the government suggests the companies ask for a COVID status certificate of each employee, it would be best to insist them for the same. However, without the guidelines from the government, the process may be unethical and can even go against the willingness of employees to be injected with the vaccines. Further, it may also lead to discrimination based on the vaccination status.
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