How Vaccination Rates Impact Recovery for Wellness Businesses

July 16, 2021 by Medium

Viruses are like internet fraudsters: They look for the most vulnerable and then move in for the attack.

The world anxiously awaits a “new normal” that at least slightly resembles pre-pandemic ways. The Mindbody Data Science team had predicted that our customers’ businesses would begin to surpass their 2019 levels by October 2021. However, now more than ever, we’re seeing that there’s one huge caveat: The markets with higher vaccination rates will fare better than their counterparts.

We’ve been watching closely, curious as to how this would all play out for our customers and their booking rates at their salons, spas, fitness centers, and wellness businesses. With Australia fighting the new variants, their consumer class and appointment bookings are down 23%, compared to 2019. As a comparison, bookings in the United States — where vaccination has received and will continue to receive a forceful push — are down by 3% as of July 2021. (Worth noting, though, is that some states are progressing faster than others due to a heavier focus on vaccinations.)

While we don’t know the exact number, experts have estimated that somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% to 90% of a population will need to be vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity. Some regions of the world are getting there, but as a globe, we still have work to do. The CDC’s updated mask mandate says that all fully vaccinated individuals can do without. However, businesses aren’t exactly checking who is and isn’t vaccinated. Furthermore, the variants present a threat to everyone, even fully vaccinated people. (Remember that no vaccine is 100% effective. You can still get a virus if you’ve been vaccinated against it.)