This is the sixth blog in a series written by Mary Ann Baynton, Director of Collaboration and Strategy for Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.
To vaccinate, or not to vaccinate? That was a very contentious question during the pandemic.
In my opinion, we were dealing with a lot of unknowns. Each person was taking the limited information available and doing what Malcolm Gladwell calls “thin-slicing” – making a judgment or assumption based on a small or thin amount of information. We all had to do this. Employers had to do this. Politicians had to do this. Pharmacists and doctors had to do this.
We had not faced this particular pandemic before. We did not have all of the information about the long-term effects of the virus, or the vaccines. We all had to make up our minds about what we felt was our safest move.
Most people lined up for multiple vaccinations against COVID-19. But debates over vaccines sparked heated arguments among family, friends, co-workers, and neighbours. These debates were fueled by fear on both sides.
One side feared the impact of Covid on themselves and their loved ones, especially the most vulnerable. They saw that this virus could result in serious ongoing health effects, or even death.
The other side feared the impact of the vaccine. They may have read or heard claims that it could cause health problems, including long-term effects on some who took it. They also read that these vaccines could sometimes kill, even if it was a rare occurrence.
This resulted in some emotional and aggressive arguments where individual integrity was attacked.
While I personally chose vaccination out of fear of harming my aging relatives, I had friends who took every precaution to protect their loved ones too but chose to remain unvaccinated.
Due to the fact that vaccinated individuals could still contract and transmit Covid, the rules and regulations imposed by government and organizations were sometimes confusing. There were discussions about stripping professionals of their credentials if they refused to be vaccinated, and some workers were fired or prevented from returning to work, even when they worked remotely.
We were dealing with the unknown and fear of death. Most of us were doing the best we could with the information we accessed. It was a very stressful time for most and of course that had an impact at work.
The next blog in this series features an employee impact story written by my colleague and co-author of The Evolution of Workplace Mental Health in Canada. Leanne Fournier interviewed Melissa Calder about the impact psychological health and safety has had on inclusion. Explore the History of psychological health and safety and read all of the blogs in this series.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Canada Life or Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.