经济学人下载:让公司头秃的打工人疫苗接种难题(2)

Rules in other industries often lack consistency. Early in the pandemic, cruise ships helped to spread the disease. The Saga cruise line, which targets elderly travellers, is now insisting that passengers produce proof of vaccination, but makes no such demand of the crew. That makes sense. The passengers will largely be drawn from the rich world, where the elderly have been first in the queue for jabs. The crew will be younger and often from poorer countries. In both cases vaccines will have been harder to obtain. However, the industry is not taking a consistent approach. Swan Hellenic is insisting on vaccines for crew, not passengers. Victory Cruise Lines has made a jab mandatory for both groups. 

其他行业的接种规则往往缺乏一致性。在疫情早期，大型游轮加剧了疾病的传播。以老年旅客为目标的萨加邮轮公司现在坚持要求乘客出示疫苗接种证明，但却没有对船员提出这样的要求。这是有道理的。其乘客主要来自于发达国家，而发达国家将老年群体排在疫苗接种首位。其船员更年轻，且通常来自较贫穷的国家。这两种情况致使船员将更难获得疫苗。然而，游轮行业并没有采取一致的做法。Swan Hellenic邮轮公司坚持要求全体船员接种疫苗，对乘客则不作要求。胜利号邮轮公司则强制要求这两个群体都要接种疫苗。

No vaccine is 100% effective. It is not yet clear whether people who have been vaccinated can still transmit the disease to others. So where staff come into contact with customers, companies may insist on social distancing or mask-wearing until case levels drop substantially. Even then, employees may catch the virus from each other. 

没有一种疫苗的有效性在100%。目前尚不清楚接种过疫苗的人是否还能将疾病传染给他人。因此，公司可能会坚持要求员工与客户接触时保持社会距离或佩戴口罩，直到病例数量大幅下降。即便如此，员工之间也可能相互传染病毒。

Later, companies will have to consider what they should do when vaccines become more widely available. Some staff may have been unable to get a vaccine, because they have a medical condition (such as pregnancy) that excludes them. Do companies have a duty of care to protect such employees from colleagues who have refused to take the jab on principle? 

到了后期，公司将不得不考虑，在新冠疫苗的供应变得更加广泛的情况下，他们应该做些什么。一些员工可能无法接种疫苗，因为他们的身体状况（如怀孕）有所限制。那公司原则上是否有义务保护这些员工免受拒绝接种的同事的伤害？In the case of most companies, Ms Boudreau says, it is very much in their interest “to reduce barriers for eligible staff to get vaccines, to have a dialogue with their staff to understand if and why they may be hesitant to get vaccinated, and to provide information and resources that may help those who are reluctant”. But that is probably as far as they can go. 

布德劳表示，就大多数公司而言，符合他们的利益的做法是，“减少有资格员工接种疫苗的障碍，与员工进行对话以了解他们是否以及为什么不愿接种疫苗，并向不愿接种疫苗的员工提供可能有用的信息和资源”。但这可能是公司所能做到的极限了。

There may be another phase of the pandemic with new variants resistant to current vaccines. The type of jab people have received then becomes more significant. In short, managers will face a series of tradeoffs. Their best option may be to accept the uncertainties, remain flexible, ensure the best possible hygiene standards for their staff—and hope that acquired immunity, vaccines and therapies make covid-19 no more lifethreatening than seasonal flu. 

新冠病毒的另一个阶段可能是对现有疫苗具有抗药性的新变种。人们接种的疫苗类型变得更加重要。简言之，管理者将面临一系列的权衡。他们的最佳选择可能是接受不确定性，保持灵活，确保其员工达到最佳卫生标准，并寄希望于获得性免疫、疫苗和治疗致使新冠病毒不会比季节性流感更具生命威胁。