"Mandatory Flu Shots Hit Resistance"

I had the H1N1 flu in the 70s. Back then they called it the Swine Flu. I was so sick I wanted to die just to get relief. I now get a regular seasonal flu shot every year. I have COPD, and when it was rearing its ugly head, I was in nursing school. That was in 1996. I had a flu shot to prevent my spreading it to my patients. I got sick from the shot a few times, but I blame the COPD. I don't get sick anymore since my disease is now under control. Just thought you should know.

Why turn this into something it isn't? Many are making this all about politics.

Really it is about public health and protecting the most vulnerable.

Mandatory stuff like this does truly suck, but after listening to horrible grief of the mother of a healthy 14 year old that died herer yesterday I can see why they may feel the need to mandate.

IF the vaccine is low risk many will still take the "no way", "not me" stance and so many will be exposed and a small percentage liike this child will die.

Maybe the greater good does need to be considered instead of turning this into a political "my body" fight to the death.

That mother's voice will be with me forever.......it was that bad.

The day that our government tells us to take the shot or we can not practice, is the day that our country and what it stands for dies, dont let them discriminate against us because we are the ones who care for the sick and injured. We have the right to choose! Who is with me?

And next they will feel the need to mandate chips to be implanted in to everyone of us, so they can tell if you just washed your hands or not... because the grief of someone who lost a loved one from a hospital aquired infection. We should all take the responsibility to wash our own hands, the government should not mark us to ensure quality, because its our responsibility! As it is our responsibility and right to choose if we want vaccines!

Right, and thank gawd you have your rights, and who cares about who you might put at risk because you got your way and the hell with anyone else?

Nice.

It's about you , all about you............

You want to talk about putting others at risk?

The United States Government has put thousands upon thousands at risk... for the greater good?

And you blindly follow the blind, do your trust that they are looking out for you?

A Congressional subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC on September 28, 1994 revealed that up to
500,000 Americans were endangered by secret defense-related tests between 1940 and 1974 --
including covert experiments with radioactive materials, mustard gas, LSD, and biological agents. For
example, between 1949 and 1969, the Army released radioactive compounds in 239 cities to study the
effects, according to General Accounting Office testimony the hearings.
-In 1932 the United States Public Health Service (PHASE), in cooperation with the Tuskegee Institute,
initiated a study in Macon County, Alabama to determine the effects of untreated syphilis. The study
would last until 1970 and follow 399 black men diagnosed with syphilis.
In order to ensure that they would not be treated, which became increasingly difficult with the
discovery and widespread use of penicillin after 1943, local physicians, draft boards and PHS venereal
disease eradication programs were given a list of the "subjects." The men, the most educated of whom completed 7th grade, were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a term the white doctors claimed was a synonym for syphilis in the black community.

"And you blindly follow the blind, do your trust that they are looking out for you?"

Nope, not a high level of trust, but also not a constant conspiracy theorist either.

I am well aware of the things you have mentioned. That was then and this is now though.

I feel the flu vaccine is pretty low risk. If it was live plague or something then that would be a whole different thing.

Everyone has to make their own choices, but adamantly refusing the vaccine to help not expose those more vulnerable is just as bad to me as the government forcing it on people. Equally poor choices in my personal opinion.

Just remember, we are fighting a pandemic, and I have urged all of my immediate family members to get the H1M1 flu shot. I know the importance of it. It's about public safety, not government or about one's selfishness.

Is a nurse exempt from swine flu vaccine if they had an allergic reaction to seasonal flu vaccine?

Happened to me, too. Regardless of how much good an organization does, donating to a charity should NEVER be mandatory in the workplace. Yet, far too many workers feel coerced into supporting charities with which they might not agree or making donations they really can't afford because they fear they'll be treated poorly on the job if they don't comply.

I am very worried about America becoming a theocracy in which only one religion is considered legitimate. However, that is a very heavy topic and more appropriate for discussion on its own thread.

Could it be that possibly the employers who are mandating that nurses get flu shots are doing so because they worry about nurses calling in sick should they catch the flu? Could it be that it has less to do with infection control and more to do with not wanting to hire enough help to ensure adequate staffing during a pandemic? And with some institutions that are so rigid about call-ins to the point that they penalize employees for being sick, will they take disciplinary action against the nurse who refuses the flu shot, gets sick and calls in? Would not surprise me one bit. Not one bit.

I have definitely felt that some institutions have tried to foist certain political ideologies upon students and employees. I've found it offensive, whether the ideology was one with which I agreed or disagreed. It's indoctrination, whether it comes from the left or the right, and it does not belong in schools, the workplace or at church. Anytime that someone in a position of authority tells one what political views one should espouse, that person has crossed a dangerous line into encroaching on the freedom of those under his/her authority.

Good post. Your points are well-taken. Freedom is not something we lose all at once. It is chipped away by many persons with varying political ideologies and differing agendas. Some of those who try to take our freedoms have good intentions; others do not. But on the other hand, complete freedom would result in utter chaos and the violation of the human rights of others while we selfishly pursue what we want. Freedom means taking responsibility for one's actions, to ensure that one does not hurt others or squelch their freedoms. I am afraid of both extremes here---someone taking control and the people losing all freedom but also complete freedom leading to lawlessness, disregard for other beings and utter chaos. I should think there's a balance in there somewhere that would maximize freedom while minimizing encroaching the rights of others and maintaining a semblance of order and control while emphasizing personal responsibility. But again---another day, another discussion.