Protect your employees with the COVID-19 vaccine
"Allowing staff time off for appointments, and for recovery if they experience side effects, may present a short-term inconvenience to your business but the benefits of having a protected workforce will far outweigh this in the longer-term"
The COVID-19 vaccination is important to protect against the virus. The vaccines are highly effective and have been shown to substantially reduce the risk of death, severe disease and transmission of infection. The NHS is progressing well through its vaccination programme and now anyone aged 25 and over will be invited to come forward and attend their appointment.
As a local employer your staff will either have been invited for their vaccine or are due to be invited. To help protect our communities from COVID-19, it’s important that you allow your employees time to access their appointment, and this may mean during their working day.
Many local businesses are working hard and taking steps to protect their staff and customers. Supporting staff to access appointments is vital part of our collective efforts to end the Pandemic. Some staff may experience side effects after their jab but these subside within one to two days. Most people experience a sore arm, a few will also experience fatigue and flu-like symptoms for up to 48 hours.
Allowing staff time off for appointments, and for recovery if they experience side effects, may present a short-term inconvenience to your business but the benefits of having a protected workforce will far outweigh this in the longer-term. To find out more about the vaccination programme, please click here.
Please also note there has been a change in guidance for Close Contacts. Anyone deemed to be a Close Contact of someone with a positive COVID-19 test result should themselves access a PCR test. These tests are more reliable at picking up the virus than the rapid tests, they also allow for samples to be genetically sequenced so variants can be identified. This is important for on-going control of the virus and to ensure vaccines remain effective against any new variants which may emerge.
These tests should be access a few days after the date of contact and the full 10-day self-isolation period for Close Contacts still needs to be completed even if a negative test result is received. PCR Tests can be booked via nhs.uk/coronavirus.
If you’d like to speak to someone about your role in helping to protect our communities, please contact the Warwickshire Public Health team at dphadmin@warwickshire.gov.uk or visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/coronavirus