Fighting mandate regarding flu vaccines

Nurses COVID

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I am a last year FNP student....and my university just sent an email mandating both the Influenza and H1N1 vaccines. The state attorney--of the Dept of Public Health does not mandate this for healthcare workers--so it seems a State Univ would follow suit. Any suggestions on fighting this mandate?

"I found your answer very close minded."

It may well be. I'm not a very good judge. I have done the research for myself and my family. I also happen to be the wife of a chronic lung patient who would not want my husband to be cared for by anyone who had not taken reasonable precautions.

In the event that my husband had to be hospitalized and I had a choice of institutions, I would jump for joy to find a facility whose employees were all as protected as they could be. Since I, as a patient's wife, could hardly mandate vaccinated health care workers only, it would be a huge measure of reassurance for me.

Well, that certainly settles it. Every single health care worker in this country should be vaccinated because your husband is a chronic lung patient and it would be a huge measure of reassurance for you. Does that actually make sense to you? I fail to understand this type of mentality. The whole world does not revolve around you and your husband. No offense - it sure as heck doesn't revolve around me and mine either, but I seriously don't get this type of thought process - "well, it benefits me so let's go for it". How incredibly self-centered.

I hardly find your post to be a compelling reason for forced vaccinations. Flame away, but I would honestly rather have a few people die than for everyone in this country to lose their rights. RuRnurse makes very good points in his/her post - this is a slippery slope we are traveling down here.

Well, that certainly settles it. Every single health care worker in this country should be vaccinated because your husband is a chronic lung patient and it would be a huge measure of reassurance for you. Does that actually make sense to you? I fail to understand this type of mentality. The whole world does not revolve around you and your husband. No offense - it sure as heck doesn't revolve around me and mine either, but I seriously don't get this type of thought process - "well, it benefits me so let's go for it". How incredibly self-centered.

I hardly find your post to be a compelling reason for forced vaccinations. Flame away, but I would honestly rather have a few people die than for everyone in this country to lose their rights. RuRnurse makes very good points in his/her post - this is a slippery slope we are traveling down here.

How about it benefits medically fragile people (can't imagine her husband is the only one).

As many (if not all in some units) patients in the hospital are medically fragile, I think it makes a good case for all health care professionals who work in clinical areas to be vaccinated.

Well, that certainly settles it. Every single health care worker in this country should be vaccinated because your husband is a chronic lung patient and it would be a huge measure of reassurance for you. Does that actually make sense to you? I fail to understand this type of mentality. The whole world does not revolve around you and your husband. No offense - it sure as heck doesn't revolve around me and mine either, but I seriously don't get this type of thought process - "well, it benefits me so let's go for it". How incredibly self-centered.

I hardly find your post to be a compelling reason for forced vaccinations. Flame away, but I would honestly rather have a few people die than for everyone in this country to lose their rights. RuRnurse makes very good points in his/her post - this is a slippery slope we are traveling down here.

She is self-centered? Curious. I find a nurse defending her right to "kill a few people" rather than travel down the slippery slope of mandated vaccination to protect the herd to be far more so. Hyperbole mine.

I can't think of a more compelling reason for vaccination than to protect her husband, and people like him, from potentially lethal diseases.

. . Flame away, but I would honestly rather have a few people die than for everyone in this country to lose their rights. . .

Very easy to say until it is your son or daughter, husband or wife, relative or neighbor that is lying in bed in the ICU dying in front of you.

Wow the flu is killing people, not nurses. Exposure can happen anywhere. I take great offense in that comment.

I medically cannot get the vaccine that is out now as it is a live virus vaccine. Maybe I should just quit working until after flu season, is that how you feel? Wouldn't want to kill anyone. (I wear a mask with all patient contact). That comment was absolutely uncalled for. I know that this is an avenue to vent but when you accuse nurses of killng people because the make the personal choice not to be vaccinated I think you've gone too far.

Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

i wish you all the luck in your decisions, blessed.

i personally don't agree with the notion that health care workers are the problem and i wish so much people would stop saying that it is us who will be spreading the virus unless we are all vaccinated. i believe if that's the case they need to mandate it to everyone. how do we know that the vaccine is going to be completely effective against the H1N1 virus and also how do people know who gave them the virus---i am more worried about the patient's visitors who do not wash their hands, do not follow precautions when posted, cough, sneeze and let their children crawl on the floors in the patient's rooms than i am about me transmitting it to someone. sure, you can blame the nurse who wasn't vaccinated... but aren't you at the same risk if you are immunocompromised and walking around walmart? or picking your kids up from day care? there are immunocompromised people everywhere, not just in hospital beds!

the only vaccine available now is the live vaccine and because i am pregnant i cannot have it. i wore a mask at work (or my scarlet letter, rather) until my OB took me out of work and i will probably have to continue to wear one when i return from leave. my boyfriend and my mom (both nurses) also not taking the live vaccine for fear that it can shed in their skin and they can pass it to me and baby. they are both also wearing a mask.... and not making anyone sick because of their choices.

i think the biggest part of prevention is people need to STAY HOME WHEN THEY'RE SICK. not just us, everyone. don't go out and snot all over the cart at publix. don't go to work. don't send your kids to school. it might make a difference.

i wish you all the luck in your decisions, blessed.

i personally don't agree with the notion that health care workers are the problem and i wish so much people would stop saying that it is us who will be spreading the virus unless we are all vaccinated. i believe if that's the case they need to mandate it to everyone. how do we know that the vaccine is going to be completely effective against the H1N1 virus and also how do people know who gave them the virus---i am more worried about the patient's visitors who do not wash their hands, do not follow precautions when posted, cough, sneeze and let their children crawl on the floors in the patient's rooms than i am about me transmitting it to someone. sure, you can blame the nurse who wasn't vaccinated... but aren't you at the same risk if you are immunocompromised and walking around walmart? or picking your kids up from day care? there are immunocompromised people everywhere, not just in hospital beds!

the only vaccine available now is the live vaccine and because i am pregnant i cannot have it. i wore a mask at work (or my scarlet letter, rather) until my OB took me out of work and i will probably have to continue to wear one when i return from leave. my boyfriend and my mom (both nurses) also not taking the live vaccine for fear that it can shed in their skin and they can pass it to me and baby. they are both also wearing a mask.... and not making anyone sick because of their choices.

i think the biggest part of prevention is people need to STAY HOME WHEN THEY'RE SICK. not just us, everyone. don't go out and snot all over the cart at publix. don't go to work. don't send your kids to school. it might make a difference.

I don't think that anyone is saying nurses will be the ones spreading it to everyone....we, or at least I am saying that the hospital has an astronomically higher percentage of folks who have a good chance of dying if they catch this virus (at a guess a higher percentage than your example in Walmart).

For the most part, patients in the hospital are already pretty dang sick (especially in these economic times when some folks are putting off getting medical care until it's urgent). If we can protect them from getting H1N1 from their nurse (CNA, Doc, Phlebotamist, anyone who works in the hospital and cares for patients) ....why wouldn't we?

Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.
I don't think that anyone is saying nurses will be the ones spreading it to everyone....we, or at least I am saying that the hospital has an astronomically higher percentage of folks who have a good chance of dying if they catch this virus (at a guess a higher percentage than your example in Walmart).

For the most part, patients in the hospital are already pretty dang sick (especially in these economic times when some folks are putting off getting medical care until it's urgent). If we can protect them from getting H1N1 from their nurse (CNA, Doc, Phlebotamist, anyone who works in the hospital and cares for patients) ....why wouldn't we?

but there is alot of that going on....

i was watching CNN i believe it was yesterday where campbell brown, lou dobbs and jack cafferty all were saying how nurses need to get vaccinated to keep them from getting sick and that no one wants a nurse who didn't get the vaccine and blah blah blah. believe me the last thing i want to do is make someone else sick, but i do believe the emphasis put on health care workers is a bit too much.... and to me, it's not for our wellbeing either, since we are the ones on the front line with exposure to patients sick with the flu.... they are only concerned about theirs.

the hospital i work for is already out of the nasal vaccine.

i suppose i'm a skeptic of knowing just how effective the vaccine is against the virus anyways. i just wish the emphasis was not only focused on health care workers and how we have to have the vaccine first to protect everyone from us... i am far from anti-vaccine, i know they save lives and i've had all my shots required for working in a hospital except for the flu shot. i guess i'm not cool with the idea that patients can refuse any treatment, but we are their nurses are forced to have it.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

"I seriously don't get this type of thought process "

That's OK - I don't get yours either. You apparently are comfortable with being inpatient in a facility where none of the staff have been vaccinated against Smallpox, Chickenpox, Hepatitus, Pertussis, Whooping Cough, Measles, Mumps, Rubella or Polio.

They're mandated too, you know.

Originally Posted by pinksugar viewpost.gif

. . Flame away, but I would honestly rather have a few people die than for everyone in this country to lose their rights. . .

Very easy to say until it is your son or daughter, husband or wife, relative or neighbor that is lying in bed in the ICU dying in front of you.

Wow the flu is killing people, not nurses. Exposure can happen anywhere. I take great offense in that comment.

You misinterpreted my comment. I did not imply that nurses are responsible for spreading the pandemic virus.

I am appalled that someone, presumably a nurse, could be so callous as to say " let a few people die" instead of considering all options to protect as many people as possible. My point was, and still is, would pinksugar be so quick to sacrifice these people if they were her own relatives or friends? Just sayin'.

Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

read the comments posted on the bottom by people in NY in response to the mandate of vaccines being dropped.

"This is NOT a legal victory and one more example of health care workers putting themselves before their patients. Guess they ARE in it for the money…"

"healthcare workers who do not wish to be vaccinated can wear big red armbands stating they have refused the flu vaccine."

"They should be fired. They are obviously out-of-touch with conventional and acceptable preventative medical treatment and I wouldn’t want to be near any facility that employed such irresponsible health care “professionals”. "

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/judge-halts-mandatory-flu-vaccines-for-health-care-workers/?hp

sorry, i am a human being first and a nurse second.

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