What to know
- Presentation Day/Time: Tuesday, April 22, 3:15–4:40 pm
- Presenter: Eric Lundstrom, PhD, MPH, EIS officer assigned to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Field Studies & Engineering
What did we do?
- The United States remains one of the few high-income countries without a national paid sick leave (PSL) policy. As a result, approximately one in five U.S. workers cannot take time off work to recover from illness — or access preventive healthcare resources, such as vaccinations — without risking lost wages. This study aimed to measure the association between access to PSL and COVID-19 vaccination status in the United States.
What did we find?
- This analytic sample represented more than 114 million employed U.S. adults. A higher percent of those with PSL (85.8%) reported ever receiving a COVID-19 vaccine compared to those without (72.3%).
- Analyses indicated that, within the majority of occupation and industry groups, those with access to PSL were significantly more likely to report receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.
Why does it matter?
- These findings suggest PSL is associated with receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine among U.S. workers within most occupation and industry groups. Expanding PSL access nationwide has the potential to increase vaccine uptake and reduce the spread of infectious diseases in the United States.
Abstract Category: COVID-19, Occupational Safety and Health