CONFUSION, UNCERTAINTY MOUNT AS RESTAURANTS CONSIDER COVID VACCINE

John Taxin, owner of Old Original Bookbinder’s Seafood & Steakhouse in Richmond, Va., sums up the status of restaurants and the coronavirus vaccine as well as anybody:

“Nobody knows what the hell is going on,” Taxin said. “Nobody knows what to do. We’re waiting to hear.”

He is far from alone in adopting that wait-and-see attitude. A new Restaurant Business survey of operators revealed that only 20.4% of restaurant employers intend to require their staffs be vaccinated, with more than half of them indicating they’ll make exceptions for religious or health reasons. An equal percentage say they definitely will not mandate the inoculations.

Among the remaining majority, 19.7% say they’re still hammering out a policy. The remaining 39.4% said they’ll request that every employee get the vaccine but will leave compliance up to each individual.

Among those who don’t intend to require vaccines, the No. 1 reason by far was a belief that “the decision to be vaccinated is a personal one that every staff member should make on their own,” the stance cited by 60%.

The question of whether to vaccinate remains academic at this point. Most states or local jurisdictions have not indicated when they’ll have enough doses of the Pfizer or Moderna injections to begin safeguarding “other” essential workers, the category into which restaurant employees have for the most part been classified. But at least some areas have said restaurant staff members could be asked to roll up their sleeves as early as next month.

Taxin, who has had to close his restaurant twice because of COVID outbreaks among employees, said he doesn’t plan to mandate his 48 workers get vaccinated once shots are available. So far, though, he thinks everyone on his team is on board.