How Can Employers Comply with White House's COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate?

WILMINGTON, N.C., Sept. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

• Employers with 100+ employees face the daunting challenge of implementing a vaccine mandate in response to updated COVID-19 Action Plan from the White House.
• Without a plan to prove vaccination status, waiver status, or weekly diagnostic testing, large employers, schools and healthcare facilities face thousands of dollars in penalties and fines per violation.
• CastleBranch's RealVaccinationID.com and CB COVID-19 Compliance solutions provide organizations with an essential tool kit to prove status, track diagnostic test results, and create a secure audit trail to help protect organizations from liability while handling the complex logistical challenges of implementing a large-scale vaccine mandate.

The White House's sweeping new vaccine rules and mandates have fundamentally changed the way employers with 100+ employees ? and two-thirds of the American workforce ? respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many employers wondering: What now? 

The stakes are high. Large employers, schools or healthcare facilities who can't comply ? who can't prove hundreds of their employees are vaccinated, have a legally permissible waiver, or are submitting to weekly diagnostic tests ? face thousands of dollars in penalties and fines for violations, fees that could cripple organizations already struggling with the economic ramifications of a global pandemic.

"These are waters most employers have never entered before, and it gets incredibly complex incredibly fast," said Brett Martin, CEO of infectious disease screening company CastleBranch. "Mandates mean continuously collecting sensitive medical documents from employees, verifying the document's veracity, having a process to accommodate legally permissible medical, religious and philosophical waivers, tracking weekly diagnostic test results, and creating a documented audit trail while protecting the individual's private information from unlawful exposure. For the inexperienced, it's an unmitigated nightmare." 

To help large employers, colleges and universities, Martin's company created an essential tool kit: RealVaccinationID.com and CB COVID-19 Compliance. RealVaccinationID.com provides digital and physical proof of COVID-19 vaccination or waiver status while helping companies to create a secure audit trail; CB COVID-19 Compliance offers diagnostic test tracking, as well as temperature and symptom monitoring, isolation and quarantine processes, and contact tracing solutions. First launched in April of 2020, and then again in January 2021 ahead of the first COVID-19 vaccine ? the tool kit is inspired by some of the world's leading epidemiologists and pandemic disease policy experts. It's also been endorsed by both the Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (OADN) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), the nation's two largest nursing healthcare associations, representing over 80 percent of nursing education in the country.

RealVaccinationID.com cards are the first step to help employers comply with the new mandate, and to help protect themselves from legal liability by creating a secure, documented audit trail. The driver's licensed-sized cards can be obtained after an individual submits proof of his or her vaccination, booster shot, or waiver status, along with name, date of birth, address, photo ID and other personal identifiers. A team of trained experts reviews and verifies the medical information under CastleBranch's "nothing about me without me" policy, which protects the individual's private data from unwanted exposure. The cards also incorporate sophisticated forgery-prevention technology, including holographic film similar to those found on state-issued IDs, to help individuals prove they've received the COVID-19 vaccine or qualify for vaccine exemption, while making counterfeiting or forgery next to impossible.

The card can be paired with the company's Diagnostic Test Tracking, part of its overall CB COVID-19 Compliance toolset. The solution helps organizations track the results of any diagnostic COVID-19 test accessible via a secure, password-protected platform, and can be used to help comply with the White House's weekly test requirement.

"COVID-19 represents one of the greatest existential threats to our health, safety and wellbeing any of us have seen in our lifetime. It's important that we stop the virus, which means reaching herd immunity through vaccinations, but getting there requires process and experience," said Martin. "CastleBranch has the tools and experience to safely navigate the government's directive, and to help organizations and individuals manage the regulatory risks that come with handling protected health records."

CastleBranch is one of the leading providers of vaccination and immunization tracking in the United States. With 25 years' experience, the company has collected, reviewed, and/or stored over 35 million medical documents for a majority of healthcare education programs across the nation. Their applications are designed to maintain strict compliance with state and federal privacy regulations; create a detailed audit trail along every step of the process; and to help organization handle the logistics of implementing a complex vaccine mandate at scale.

For more information, visit RealVaccinationID.com.

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About CastleBranch:
Located in Wilmington, N.C., CastleBranch is an infectious disease screening and compliance management company serving over 17,700 healthcare programs, tens of millions of individuals, and tens of thousands of employers, schools and healthcare facilities nationwide by verifying identity, tracking over 35 million medical documents, and helping individuals transition to and through professional life. CastleBranch has 25 years of experience, employs over 500 team members and has a long track record of providing innovative solutions for complex problems.

SOURCE CastleBranch