NY Requiring Flu Shots of All HCW

indigo girl · Aug 20, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/health/policy/19swine.html?_r=4&partner=TOPIXNEWS&ei=5099

I have not seen anyone post this yet, but I many of you must know about it. Yes, New York state has mandated the flu vaccines for all HCW.

Looks like the only way around it is to work in LTC. So, there you go. I wonder how many other states will push forward this agenda.

The new regulation, quietly adopted as an emergency on Thursday, affects workers at hospitals, in home health care agencies and in hospice care, but, because of a technicality in state law, not in nursing homes.
The regulation raised protest Tuesday from New York’s largest health care union, 1199 S.E.I.U. United Healthcare Workers East, whose president, George Gresham, said that the policy was “completely unprecedented” and could become punitive if the religious or cultural beliefs of workers prevented them from being vaccinated.
“Health care workers on the front lines of providing care deserve the dignity and respect of thoughtful consideration before a regulation like this can just be rushed through and put into effect,” Mr. Gresham said.
Until now, flu vaccination has been voluntary, and fewer than half of health care workers have been vaccinated in a typical season, state health officials said.
The new regulation, which requires vaccination against seasonal flu and the H1N1 virus, would affect workers and volunteers who come into direct contact with patients, including nurses, doctors and aides, and even nonmedical staff members like food service workers if they enter a patient’s room, a Health Department spokeswoman, Diane Mathis, said.

(hat tip Avian Flu Diary)