#BuildingImmunity campaign aims to assuage vaccine hesitancy in construction and related fields
Burnaby, BC [May 27, 2021]: As vaccines become available to all Canadians, BuildingPoint Canada encourages friends, customers, and partners in the construction industry to register for their shots. Getting vaccinated is the best way to keep your community safe – and ensure our country sees the end of this pandemic as quickly as possible.
The company has launched a campaign encouraging those in the construction industry to get vaccinated in an effort to keep everyone in the industry safe and get more people back to work. The campaign urges construction professionals to share “selfies” from their vaccination appointment (or post-vaccination bandages) on social media accompanied by the hashtag #BuildingImmunity. Each week, a participant will receive a $50 Tim Hortons gift card so they can treat their co-workers to coffee and donuts. The campaign will run for at least four weeks.
Recent studies have shown that workers in the construction industry and related fields have a higher rate of vaccine hesitancy than the general population. Nearly half of construction and maintenance workers reported that they would “probably or definitely choose not to be vaccinated” in a recent study by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Most respondents cited among their reasons concerns about side effects, a belief that they “do not need” the vaccine, distrust of the vaccines themselves or the government, and a desire to wait and see if the vaccine is safe.
That’s troubling because construction workers in particular are at a higher risk for contracting COVID-19 than other professions. A 2020 study in JAMA Open Network revealed that the relative risk of COVID-19 hospitalization among construction workers was approximately five times greater than other adults aged 18 to 64 years in other occupations.
“Getting your shot will keep you, your family, your co-workers and your clients safe,” says David Davidson, GM of BuildingPoint Canada. “The sooner everyone gets vaccinated, the sooner we can every one of the 1.2 million people in Canada’s construction industry back to work.”
As Canada slowly emerges from lockdown and more people return to work, the need to vaccinate is greater than ever before. Virologists suggest that when 75% of the population is vaccinated, we’ll achieve herd immunity and have a dramatically reduced risk of outbreaks. However, vaccine hesitancy among Canadians may prevent us from achieving that goal.
But there’s little evidence to support the fears around getting vaccinated. Not only does scientific and medical evidence show that vaccination can help protect against COVID-19, studies are also showing that vaccinated people may have less severe illness if they do become ill from the virus. Furthermore, only vaccines that are proven to be safe, effective and of high quality are authorized for use in Canada. All the available vaccines have been rigorously tested during their development and then carefully reviewed by Health Canada.