Mandatory Flu shots

Nurses COVID

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sooooo...what are your thoughts of mandatory Flu shots for health care workers? we got the ultimatum....get the shot or get the ax. So I got my first ever flu shot yesterday. just sitting arround waiting to get sick now!!!!!

Specializes in LTC.

Yes, keep in mind you can still catch the flu even though you've had the vaccine. I rarely get sick yet the one year I took the flu shot, I got the flu a couple of months later. That was 11 years ago. I haven't had the flu since.

Specializes in MSP, Informatics.

love the input everyone is giving. My fist thought when I heard about the mandatory flu shot thing was to put it off as long as possible, and maybe they would run out! ;-)

then I saw the gal in charge of giving them near tears and I caved in....

but also I was thinking, every other year I was working on the floor...exposed to every bug/germ/vitrus around. now I am in the nursing informatics field...so i do go to the care areas, but not as much. Would I be like the substitute teacher who gets sick every time they go sub in the elementary classes...because they arn't exposed day to day? 18 years and never really got the flu. but I was exposed day to day with whatever was out there on the medical floors. now that I don't have all those patients coughing in my face.... would I be more subseptible to the flu if I came accross someone who had it?

Jen0617, Thanks for the personal message! It really helped me try to keep a level head about this whole process. As soon as I am able to private message I will send you another message. Thanks so much!

I was diagnosed with Guillian Barre Syndrome in December and I think they have underestimated the cases of Guillian Barre per 100,000. I went to many Doctors plus physical therapy and even in public I would come across a curious person who wanted to know what was wrong with me. When we would tell them some of them knew someone that had GBS. Im not sure what caused my case, but I had a flu shot(which I had gotton every year for many years even before I became a nurse) I had different vaccines (due to being a student then for being in the health field) and I had a virus shortly before my GBS. So I do not know if it was the flu shot or the other factors, but I will not be getting a flu shot this year.

Specializes in Peds.

The flu vaccine is no guaranteed solution to the flu, even after receiving the vaccine, it can still be contracted. If there was a patient that was refusing that treatment, isn't it our job to ensure the patient's right of autonomy? So why should we be forced to give up that right?

Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

Contact the ACLU.

The last time I checked, this is the United States. We have choices here.

Specializes in NICU.

I got the flu shot once and was sick for 5 months afterward. Of course it is an inactive virus but it can still deplete your immune system... I got EVERYTHING else. I had a new virus every 2 weeks! I got the flu last year and was sick for 2 weeks period. I think I'd rather take my chances!

Woops, didn't mean to sound like I was calling her selfish, lol

I say "you" a lot in the sense of "we", "people", not a specific person.

FWIW, it helps to know how the flu vaccine is formulated. Each year, they maintain statistics on the flu strains going around, and then they will project which 5 strains are the most likely to become wide spread. They will put those 5 strains in the vaccine. You are still at risk for those other strains that go around.

That said, most people mistake food poisoning for the flu since our bodies can have the exact same symptoms of a flu during specific types of food poisoning.

Specializes in ICU, ED, PACU.

I'm going to be blunt, and I don't expect support, but as a health care worker in contact with a susceptible, vulnerable or immunocompromised patients, it is selfish to not get an influenza vaccine.

Just as employers can mandate you not come into contact with patients when you are symptomatic, they can mandate you are immunized. The fact is that influenza is highly contagious even when it presents as asymptomatic. This is an infection that KILLS. In the US alone 36,000die, on average, each year from this disease. That's 100 deaths a day. To you or I it may be an inconvenience to be ill for a little bit, but for a susceptible portion of the population this is a downright killer. This is the portion of the population that a nurse is likely to be caring for.

If you don't vaccinate, that is your choice. But don't put others in a very real risk for death. In an average season 5-20% of Americans will contract influenza. Are you willing to put those whom you are caring for at risk?

The Carman study showes that vaccination of health care workers in a hospital setting decreases mortality rates (22% mortality unvacinated, 12% vacinated). Pure and simple. Potter shows the same for LTC facilities (17% non vacinated, 10% vaccinated). Not getting your vaccinations is KILLING.

Get the prick.

The influenza vaccination is the best guess at the most likely strains. It will not catch all. It may even be off on some seasons. But the proof is in the pudding, the vaccination saves lives.

(Numbers sourced from CDC)

I really dont understand your concern,we are the healthcare workers and the flu shots should be mandatory...there are thousand of people who would love to get the flu shot for free but struggle financially and you still making a big deal out of it like it is sort of a punishment:down:

Yes, keep in mind you can still catch the flu even though you've had the vaccine. I rarely get sick yet the one year I took the flu shot, I got the flu a couple of months later. That was 11 years ago. I haven't had the flu since.

Of course you can get the flu even after the flu shots,in other words you can also catch chickenpox,measles,and rubella,as well as the tetorifice...so basically we should avoid all the vacines alltogether.We should also avoid giving shots to our domestic animals and just rely on their strong immune system,but that would kind of be like weird since we are suppose to promote healthy behavior.

How can any nurse who is shocked by the news that her hospital made the flu vacine mandatory for the healthcare workers promote healthy behaviors.Really puzzles me,seriously.Kinda sorta like a double standards.

Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

We all have the choice to get it or not....When a hospital decides that employees MUST get a vaccination, we become patients at that point. OP, I'm curious, has anyone been fired at this point? I would love to see the ACLU have a field day with the hospital who claims to be about patient rights force this upon employees.

Let me tell you something...I live in a country where my personal choices define who I am. I choose not to be vaccinated. I also choose to use healthy behaviors in my daily life, and limit my contact with patients if I am symptomatic. I am BEYOND religous in using hand sanitizer and washing my hands.

I understand that this is a illiness...but simply because you are vaccinated does NOT mean that you couldn't give it to a little old lady at the grocery store.

I do NOT agree that making the flu shot mandatory promotes healthy standards...I believe that it becomes a liability issue..."your nurse was coughing and hacking on me after surgery!" "Oh, not our nurse, she had her flu shot this year...."

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