Articles

As an Employer, How Can I Implement a Vaccine Mandate at my Company?

Kieran Swenson
August 30, 2021 · 2 min read

There are a few different methods to enforce a vaccine mandate at your company. Which is best for you depends on what state you live in and what level of proof you require.

Self-Reporting

Self Reporting Form

If you don’t require a high burden of proof, the easiest way to know whether your employees are vaccinated is to ask them. Requiring employees to fill out a form with the date, type, and provider of their vaccination is a straightforward way to obtain information about your employees’ vaccination status, but it does leave the door open for dishonesty.

Vaccine Cards

Checking vaccine cards to verify that employees have received both doses is more secure than just asking them to report that they have, but does pose its own legitimacy problems. As vaccine mandates are becoming more common, stories of vaccine card forgery have increasingly begun to surface. 1

Online Patient Portals

Most healthcare organizations have online patient portals through which their members can access digital versions of their health records. By logging into the patient portal provided by the healthcare organization where they received their vaccine, employees can access a digital record of their medical history. Most portals allow users to print out a PDF copy of their COVID vaccination records which can either be emailed or physically brought in to the office as proof of vaccination. Verifying using online patient portals does bring up some of the same issues with dishonesty as self-reporting though, as most online portals allow users to self-report their own vaccination information. The employee’s patient portal will contain a record of their COVID vaccination even if it was reported to the health system by the patient themselves.

SMART Health Cards

Smartphone displaying QR code

Advertised as digital versions of your clinical information, SMART Health Cards have been implemented by some states and health systems specifically as vaccine passports. If an employee received their vaccination in a health system or state that has implemented them, they can generally request a card through that entity’s website. When a user requests a SMART Health Card, they are assigned a unique QR code that can be scanned to check their vaccination status. As an employer, you can download the Smart Health Card Verifier app which will confirm whether the card is valid and tell you the date and issuer of the vaccination doses administered to that employee. SMART Health Cards are among the most secure ways to verify vaccination information, but they have currently only been implemented by a small subset of health organizations and state governments.

Verifying Employee Vaccination Status Using Guava

Using Guava to verify employees' vaccination status is fast and secure. If employees already have a Guava account, displaying proof of vaccination is as simple as checking the Vaccinations section of the profile. Then check that:

  1. The required number of doses have been administered
  2. Two weeks2 have passed since the date of their last vaccination
  3. The vaccination source is a trusted provider

Proof of vaccination can be displayed from any phone, tablet or computer.

If an employee does not already have a Guava account, they can obtain vaccine proof by signing up and connecting their patient portals. Beyond just vaccine proof, they will also be able to obtain and manage the rest of their medical records in digital form through one easy interface.

Guava COVID-19 proof

Implementing a vaccine mandate is a complicated task. Thankfully, there are a few options to help you keep your workplace safe.

1. Fake COVID-19 vaccination cards worry college officials, AP News
2. When you've been fully vaccinated, CDC


Contact us about how we can help you implement a vaccine mandate in your workplace

Learn more about how Guava helps you obtain your medical records and manage your health


More by Guava