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Study: Mandatory Flu Vaccination Of HCWs

 


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Although some HCWs (Health Care Workers) object strenuously to such policies, the idea of mandating yearly flu vaccinations for professional care givers isn’t going away. 

 

Over the last decade, the percentage of HCWs who voluntarily get the seasonal flu vaccine in the United States and Canada has languished disappointingly between 30% and 40%.

 

Many infection control organizations (IDSA, APIC, SHEA) support the idea of requiring yearly vaccination of HCWs, and last month the IDSA published an open letter to Thomas Frieden, Director of the CDC, in support of such a mandate.

 

While strongly advocating HCW influenza vaccination, the CDC has stopped short of mandating them. I blogged on this back on June 23rd in CDC: Proposed Influenza Infection Control Guidance.

 

Similarly, a UK Department of Health report issued in June called Learning The Lessons From the H1N1 Vaccination Campaign For Healthcare Workers  – while not mandating vaccination – stresses the `professional duty’ of all HCWs to get the vaccine.

 

New York State attempted to require vaccination as a requirement to work as a HCW in 2009, but legal challenges and vaccine shortages forced them to abandon – at least temporarily – that mandate  (see New York Rescinds Mandatory Flu Shots For HCWs).

 

I’ve covered HCW’s objections to forced flu shots in the past, including:

 

HCWs: Refusing To Bare Arms
HCWs: Developing a Different Kind Of Resistance

 

A handful of large hospitals have managed to implement mandatory flu vaccinations, including Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center and BJC Heathcare of St. Louis, Missouri  which I blogged about here.  

 

Details on how Virginia Mason Medical Center  implemented mandatory HCW vaccinations can be read in the following  PDF.

 

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Over the past 5 years that facility has maintained a 98% vaccination rate, and has vigorously promoted the uptake of flu shots not only in the workplace, but the greater community as well.

 

We’ve an abstract of a study that appears in the current Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology journal that concludes that a policy of mandatory HCW vaccination is feasible, sustainable, and effective.

 

 

DOI: 10.1086/656210

Mandatory Influenza Vaccination of Healthcare Workers: A 5‐Year Study

Robert M. Rakita, MD; Beverly A. Hagar, BSN, COHNS; Patricia Crome, MN; Joyce K. Lammert, MD, PhD


(EXCERPT)

Results.

In the first year of the program, there were a total of 4,703 HCWs, of whom 4,588 (97.6%) were vaccinated, and influenza vaccination rates of more than 98% were sustained over the subsequent 4 years of our study. Less than 0.7% of HCWs were granted an accommodation for medical or religious reasons and were required to wear a mask at work during influenza season, and less than 0.2% of HCWs refused vaccination and left Virginia Mason Medical Center.

 

Impressive results. 

 

And likely to inspire additional facilities to try to follow suit in the future.  

 

While some HCWs may decry such efforts as a violation of their rights, most infection control experts see this as an important step towards increasing patient and co-worker safety.

Related Post:

Influenza
HCW

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