What is the vaccination rate in your company?
December 2021 – On 17 September 2021, the Consultation Committee (a body in which representatives of the federal and regional governments discuss their corona plans) decided to allow employers to find out the vaccination rate of their employees. The legal framework was defined at the federal level and immediately implemented in Flanders.
Why know the vaccination rate?
The vaccination rate of the staff is important information for an employer. If the vaccination rate is high, the employer knows that there is a low risk that many employees will still fall seriously ill. In this case, the employer can cautiously relax the safety measures (concerning access to the company restaurant, the obligation to wear a mask, teleworking, etc.). On the other hand, if the vaccination rate is low, it is in the employer's interest to take action. For example, it may consider launching a campaign to convince recalcitrant employees to finally be vaccinated.
On 24 September 2021, the social partners of the Higher Council for Prevention and Protection at Work agreed on the conditions for access to the vaccination rate.
No names, just numbers
The framework that has been defined stipulates first and foremost that only aggregated and anonymised data on the vaccination rate in the company may be communicated. These data will only be made available to the occupational physician or the company's internal or external prevention department.
If the number of vaccinated persons is between 20% and 90%, the precise percentages are transmitted to the occupational physician.
If the number is less than 20% or more than 90%, only this information is provided and no precise percentages are provided.
Size of the company
According to federal rules, only companies with at least 50 employees have access to the vaccination rate. Otherwise, the employer could too easily deduce from the information provided which workers are vaccinated or not.
The occupational physician should submit these figures to the TPP committee or, if there is no committee, to the trade union delegation so that all relevant actors are involved.
The occupational physician may also undertake individual awareness-raising actions, for example by checking the vaccination status of the worker who comes to his or her consultation for a periodic health check-up.
During awareness-raising actions, the right to privacy of all workers should be respected in all circumstances.
Situation in Flanders
On the day that the above-mentioned PPT Board of Governors announced its position, the Flemish Minister of Welfare and Public Health, Wouter Beke, stated (together with the Minister of Employment and the Economy, Hilde Crevits) that an action plan could already be launched in Flanders. This plan provides for the possibility for occupational health services to organise vaccination themselves.
- To do so, however, the following conditions must be met
- the vaccination rate in the company must be less than 70% ;
- the company must employ at least 100 workers; and
the freedom to be vaccinated or not to be vaccinated at the workplace must be respected.
The company must first consult the occupational physician. Only this department has access to the data on vaccination and can check whether the above conditions are met.
If this is the case, the occupational health service will contact the local vaccination centre to organise the vaccination: it can either invite the workers to go there or bring a mobile unit to the company.
Is this measure useful?
While a high vaccination rate is important for society, it also has a very real business benefit for entrepreneurs. If a company has a large number of unvaccinated workers, it can expect long periods of inactivity due to Covid-19 and the development of clusters, and will suffer even greater damage. Many entrepreneurs have probably already realised this and have not waited for the legal framework to be in place to take action.
For the time being, every citizen remains free to decide whether or not to be vaccinated, and the entrepreneur may not exert any unlawful pressure on his or her staff to be vaccinated.
