This is a hot topic, so I thought I'd ask all your opinion of allnurses.com community. According a survey linked below, 87% of the public think we should? What do you as a healthcare provider think? Please take a second and answer the poll, and make a comment if you wish. Thanks

Here are some related Discussions and Links:

• "Mandatory Flu Shots Hit Resistance" (currently over 105 comments)
  
• Survey: 87% favor mandatory health worker H1N1 shots ) (public opinion)
  
  
• Pandemic Flu Forum
  

Would you take an AID/HIV vaccination that came out yesterday or would you wait and see how it affected other people?

I am all for keeping patients safe...but this N1H1 thing has not even come out yet...my father in law bought a Nissan Titian the first year they came out and it had all kinds of problems (best friend started selling cars right out of high school, now does accounting and manages an entire Lithia Dodge, says never to buy the first year a car/truck comes out)...I bought my Window Vista when it first came out had some problems...still does, and they are finally saying the updated Vista models that are now hitting the floor have all the "kinks worked out" (bro in law is a computer nerd, says you never buy a computer the first year it comes out).

We already have a nursing and physician shortage. Are they planning for what is going to happen when all the health care workers are out because of all the "kinks" that are still being worked out with the N1H1? (which was required of them to take in order to work...got bills to pay? Want to keep your job? All you have to do it take this new vaccine that has not even hit the market and only took a few months to create...never mind it takes YEARS for most drugs to be created and tested...) Just seems scary that something that is injected into us, that they have not even finished making, is required for us to take. Is this America? Dorthy I don't think we are in Kansas anymore.

No, I have the right to be a skeptic.

No one, not even my employer, has the right to tell me what to put into my body. PERIOD.

Absolutely not.

If anything, the paranoid public who come to the hospital sneezing and coughing all over us need mandatory vaccinations.

(Actually I don't believe in mandatory vaccinations for anyone but if you're going to go there....)

It reminds me of the days when HIV was newer and everyone was worried about contracting it from their healthcare professionals, rather than the reality of it more likely being the other way around.

I'm sorry but I've spent most of my adult life in nursing and that alone entitles me to not be a guinea pig for this vaccination.

If people are so worried about it, then they need to put themselves and their own children first in line to receive this vaccination rather than watch me receive it and "see what happens".

No one, not even my employer, has the right to tell me what to put into my body. PERIOD.

So, you refuse your yearly TB test too?

I really can't answer the poll as stated. I would support giving workers a choice between the vaccine or wearing a mask. Hospitals and healthcare workers have a responsibility to protect our patients. I would never support holding someone down and forcing an injection into them, which is what many people would like you to think is happening. It is a simple choice: protect your patients by method A or method B.

I think al of our government officials should get it first along with their families. Let's see how many of them would refuse.

No I do not get yearly TB tests, I am allergic to them after all these years in nursing. If they promise me, which they can't, that I won't have an allergic reaction then maybe. But to make it mandatory, no way, I will retire first.

So, you refuse your yearly TB test too?

Actually, I do. I fill out a yearly signs and symptoms sheet each year. I had an allergic reaction to the "harmless" medication the first year I took it.

So, you refuse your yearly TB test too?

Yep I do refuse and therefore get a CXR in lieu of same. I disagree with anyone "forcing" me to have something I dont want injected into my body. Pt's have the right to refuse so should I. If I show symptoms then send me home till I'm cleared. I was "forced" to do this in the military and became very ill during the last Swine Flu scare in the mid 70' only to find out later we were the guinea pigs before it was released to the public. It should be my choice not my employer. I am over 50 and not as high a risk due to age in relation to the H1N1 according to the CDC recs at this time either. I shouldnt be forced. Personally I think the media is overdoing it. It's one thing to be cautious but panic is another issue.

So, you refuse your yearly TB test too?

This is a strawman response.

Makes no sense.

I have a question - isn't the H1N1 vaccine the exact same as the yearly flu shot, only with this specific strain? What's so different about it that it needs the years of clinical trials before it's deemed safe? I thought I heard one of the "experts" talking about it on the news and they said it was the same as the typical vaccine.

Please don't flame me, I'm being sincere with these questions :) My hospital required the yearly flu shot this year, as did my nursing program. There are quite a few people upset about that as well. I'm diabetic so I always get the annual one....but I'm on the fence about H1N1. Any info would be appreciated!