Food and herbal nutritional products » Flu » As Flu Season Approaches, Some Health-Care Workers Say No to the Flu Shot
As Flu Season Approaches, Some Health-Care Workers Say No to the Flu Shot
View PDF | Print View
by: Guest
Total views: 181 Word Count: 319
As summer comes to a close and the influenza virus starts calling open season on our immune systems, one would hope that health-care workers have gotten their CDC-prescribed yearly flu shot by now - especially given their high rates of job-related exposure to infectious disease and their easy access to the vaccine. Guess again. According to a 2009 RAND Corporation survey of health-care workers in Los Angeles, nearly 40% of health-care providers had not been inoculated by this time last year. About 12% of survey participants said they had intended to get the flu shot, but had yet to do so by the beginning of last year's infamous H1N1 flu season. Now, two public health organizations have teamed up to propose mandatory vaccinations for health workers for the coming year.
Hospital workers avoiding the flu vaccine piques suspicion - like a chef who won't eat in his own restaurant. So why were so many survey respondents negligent in getting immunized? The reasons were varied. Twenty-two percent of those surveyed appeared to think they were invincible, answering simply, "I don't need it." Alarmingly, 21% said they didn't "believe in" flu vaccines. Others thought the shot would make them sick, or didn't like needles. Some reported that "others need it more than I do."
Such selflessness aside, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Infectious Disease Society of America are calling this behavior unethical and unprofessional. They have collaborated on a proposal to make flu shots mandatory for those working in the health-care field.
If mandatory vaccination seems like an invasion of privacy, the new proposal points out that all health-care workers are already required to have tuberculosis screenings and several standard immunizations. So far, at least one governing body, the State of New York Department of Health, has made flu vaccination a requirement for employment. Perhaps more health departments and hospitals will follow suit.
Additional information:
Avoiding the Flu Kids Talk Sharing
Articles and Recipes Avoiding the Flu Tips from Shonda Parker
Avoiding the Flu
Avoiding the Flu Get a Flu Shot The most effective way to
59 Avoiding the Flu Lesson Plans Reviewed by Teachers
Babysitting: Tips for Avoiding Swine Flu Adventures in Babysitting
5 Ways to Protect Yourself (and Others) from Swine Flu Scientific
10 Tips to Avoid Flu How to Avoid Flu
One Mom's Guide to Avoiding Swine Flu Naturally Keeper of the Home
Avoiding the swine flu The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.
http://wellness.blogs.time.com...
Related "Flu, Influenza":
- Salmonella Is No Danger to Vaccines
Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your perso ... - Consumers Cautioned to Avoid Recalled Meat Products
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is ad ... - In a bid to end prevailing shortage Sri Lanka Govt. contemplates chicken ...
The government is exploring the possibility of ... - Bird Flu Outbreak in Bangladesh, 117600 Chickens Killed
Livestock officials culled 117,600 chickens in th ... - Swine Flu, Proper Treatment and Prevention
The flu, whether it is swine or not, is a seriou ...
Rating: Not yet rated (votes: 0)
