Chronic illnesses are strongly linked to worse outcomes from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Given the rising rate of chronic conditions in the workplace, employers should consider implementing benefits coverage for vaccines and hosting workplace vaccine clinics, said Ajit Johal, a community pharmacist and clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia and the founder of immunize.io.
In a session sponsored by GSK, Merck and Pfizer Canada during Benefits Canada’s 2025 Chronic Disease at Work conference, he said chronic conditions can suppress someone’s full immune response to an illness or infection and increase the risk of complications. Patients with chronic conditions have greater rates of hospitalization for vaccine-preventable illnesses, including RSV, pneumococcal disease, the flu and the coronavirus pandemic.
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“It’s very clear [people with chronic conditions] is a priority group and it’s a priority group to vaccinate as soon as possible during the diagnosis of that chronic disease. As the disease continues on the continuum, . . . the risk goes up.”
While 88 per cent of Canadians think they have their necessary vaccines, said Johal, when shown a list of the vaccines they should have received, 87 per cent said they haven’t received them all. The majority of public health vaccination programs don’t target working-age Canadians, he noted, and the pathway to catching up on vaccines isn’t clear or easy, especially since fewer Canadians have family doctors.
Benefits coverage for vaccines and onsite vaccine clinics in the workplace can help address those barriers, he said, pointing to a successful shingles workplace vaccination campaign immunize.io completed with a B.C. school district.
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The school district shared multiple emails with employees each time a clinic was coming up, encouraging them to book an appointment and providing directions to the location and a partner pharmacy location for any overflow. It also covered the second dose of the shingles vaccine, with employees paying the cost of the first dose out of pocket. Over a two-month period, one in three employees over age 50 were vaccinated through the campaign. Ninety-eight per cent of them came back for their second dose — 20 per cent higher than the provincial average.
The organization also worked with the school district on an RSV vaccination campaign for employees 60 and older, with the district covering the entirety of the vaccine cost. It also ran a pneumococcal vaccination program targeted at employees with chronic conditions, with the district paying 50 per cent of the vaccine cost for employees identified as high risk.
Read more coverage of the 2025 Chronic Disease at Work conference.