With COVID-19 vaccinations in full swing, Australian businesses need a simple way to keep track of their employees’ immunisation records. Here’s how.
Debate is raging across Australia and New Zealand when it comes to mandating COVID-19 vaccinations at work. And while politicians deal with the finer details, business leaders are wondering how to manage the vaccine rollout.
One of the more complicated aspects of the vaccine is how organisations – particularly large businesses with hundreds or even thousands of employees – can acquire and manage the necessary health records of their workers. Here’s why vaccine verification software can help streamline this essential task and aid compliance.
How organisations are managing the vaccine rollout
For large organisations working in critical industries such as healthcare, aged care, manufacturing and airlines, many are strongly urging their staff to get the jab. Others have taken it a step further and mandated the COVID-19 vaccination for all staff. Food cannery SPC was the first Australian company to mandate vaccines for all workers and visitors to its Shepparton site, and recently Qantas announced a similar requirement for all aviation workers.
While some question the legalities of demanding that workers get the vaccine – or risk losing their job – business leaders’ main concern has shifted to how they will manage the collection of vaccine records.
AIR immunisation history statements
Available through the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), immunisation history statements are a list of all the vaccinations an individual has received over their lifetime. The AIR national register houses this data, and statements can be requested by childcare facilities and schools, as well as certain workplaces. For organisations that work in vulnerable industries, they will already be familiar with using the register to collect information on mandatory immunisations such as the flu vaccine.
Whereas previously only certain industries would have collected immunisation history statements from the AIR, businesses that plan on mandating vaccines – or offer incentives to employees who are vaccinated – will need to acquire those records. Without a tool that automates the large-scale data collection, HR teams will be inundated with time-consuming, repetitive work.
Dale Wootton, National Sales Manager at CVCheck says:
“One of the main challenges facing organisations is the collection and verification of large amounts of sensitive vaccination data, in a way that is simple and secure. Because we are government accredited, these records are highly protected.”
Introducing the Cited workforce management platform
This is where Cited can streamline operations for your organisation. It’s next-generation software-as-a-service (SaaS) workforce management solution is the best way to manage compliance and workforce credentials. And as we see a full vaccine rollout nationwide, Cited’s platform helps businesses manage the collection of vaccination records.
“People can provide their vaccine status to organisations from their personal Cited accounts and track exactly what happens with that information,” explains Dale.
“Cited ensures organisations are compliant with government regulations and their own OH&S policies, in turn providing peace of mind for all involved.”
The upshot for HR teams is that Cited’s platform gives businesses the ability to manage complex workforce credentials all in one centralised location – it provides users with a single source of truth. The result is user-friendly verification software that streamlines and automates what is a time-consuming operation for many businesses, particularly large enterprises.
How the solution works
While anyone can go to MyGov (if they have linked their Medicare profile) and source proof of their vaccination record, this can be a time-consuming process that relies on your employees. For large organisations that are juggling vaccination data across multiple departments and offices around the country, this lengthy and inefficient process creates bottlenecks and can negatively impact day-to-day operations.
Instead, Cited’s software streamlines and automates the process. HR teams can easily acquire the right records, verify an individual’s vaccination data, and generate a kiosk link that allows employees to sign in at work via a QR code.
“Cited automates the process of requesting and submitting renewal information, removing the need for organisations to handle this manually. Further down the line, this will assist organisations with tracking vaccination boosters, inevitable in the years to come,” says Dale.
“Through our open API’s, Cited can integrate with any HRIS to push and pull data to automate the processes of requesting, collecting and renewing employee vaccination records,” Dale finishes.
Here’s how it works:
- A member of HR sets up a ‘requirement’ to collect an employee’s AIR immunisation history statement – which will include records of a COVID-19 vaccination such as Pfizer or AstraZeneca.
- That equirement is then shared with the relevant parties and evidence of the employee’s vaccination record is sent.
- The employee is able to select all the organisations they want to re-share those records with, and that information is sent to those businesses.
- With the government-approved COVID-19 digital certificate now in the Cited platform, HR can confirm the employee’s vaccination record which includes their name, the type of vaccine received, which does (first or second), and the date they got the jab.
- Finally, the organisation generates a kiosk link (which may be displayed at the office’s reception, for example), allowing the employee to scan their QR code and be signed in on the Cited platform.
Making life easier – and safer – at work
Everyone wants to get back to life as we previously knew it, and with verification software, you can ensure your workplace is set up to acquire and manage vaccination records to help your business thrive in the new norm’.