Who should pay for testing the unvaccinated?

Published in El Pais, 9 September 2021.

It is no secret that many businesses and governments have been trying to start the return to the office. Many have elected for a hybrid model where you spend 2-3 days a week at the office and the rest of the time work from home and have instituted safety measures such as sanitization and mask wearing to prevent an outbreak at work. The biggest step many are taking though is the requirement of employee vaccination and many are wondering what to do for those that refuse it. The most popular solution seems to be to subject antivaxxers to regular testing which may or may not be effective, but no one has decided yet on who needs to pay for this.

For those who do not know, testing for COVID-19 is not cheap, the last time I had to take one for travel purposes I paid $225 for one and while prices are starting to drop you should still expect to pay on average $150 each time you get a nasal swab which means even if you were only subject to do a testing weekly it can still burn a whole in your pocket.

Now you may think that because it is company policy to get vaccinated, they should be the one to pay but just as much as it is their choice to enforce vaccination it is your choice to not take it. When I travelled, I knew I had to take the test to return, it was my choice not anyone else’s and if I did not want to take the test I simply could stay home. Secondly, your choice to not get the vaccine could put others at risk and if you cause an outbreak, you could cause productivity to decline as well as put others in harm’s way.

For those who do not get the vaccine that is their choice to do so but that means they must face any consequences of their decision, be it not being allowed to travel, going to a sporting event, and yes, paying for regular testing.