#%@&$ Flu Shot!

njmonsterboi80, BSN · Nov 6, 2006

At my hospital there's a mandatory education to fill out about flu shots, since we give them as well. They required everyone to go downstairs to fill it out at the flu shot clinic and then sign for receiving the flu shot, or a form refusing it. Basically it was mandatory that if we refuse it, we fill out a form saying so. I don't even think half of my unit went down for the "mandatory education", we have nursing to do after all and don't get a whole lot of extra time.

Oh, and I did pick up some kind of rhinovirus afterwards but I suppose its better than influenza.

Marc

Psych RN NJ

Can a hospital require you to take a flu shot legally? That doesn't seem right.
Vaccinations, I can understand, but a flu shot?

RN BSN 2009 · Nov 6, 2006

My mom says every time she gets a flu shot she gets bronchitis ?

Question · Nov 6, 2006

No flu shot for me unless something major happens to my immune system.

I would quit my job before I would let the government force me to take it. Many people argue that the flu shot can not cause the flu 'which is true' but it can cause your immune systems to be lowered enough to get the flu. Not to mention the preservatives, additives contained within plus it is injected into your blood stream which is not the natural way someone would get the flu..

OTC recommendations? They kill around 16,000 people each year.

http://www.mercola.com/2004/feb/7/over_the_counter.htm

http://www.newstarget.com/020279.html

jeffrey_rn · Nov 6, 2006

Mandatory flu-shots will go the way of the dinosaurs as soon as the mandating agency gets sued when an employee becomes permanently paralyzed or dies. It's rare but it does happen.

azhiker96, BSN, RN · Nov 7, 2006

Work is offering the shot for free. My arm was sore for a couple of days but otherwise I had no negative reaction.

I don't think it should be mandatory but it does make sense for significant numbers of medical and infrastructure workers to be vaccinated in case the flu becomes pandemic. To me though, the proper way to achieve that is with incentives (bonuses or cushy shifts..... chocolate is nice too!).

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Nov 7, 2006

You could always lie and say you are allergic to eggs:lol2:

MultipurposeRN · Nov 7, 2006

Thimerosol caused so many problems when chemical cleaning first got started for contact lenses that I'd be a little leary about having a flu vaccine with it. 2 of us at work got mild cases of the flu already, before we even could get the darn vaccine. Now I'm not going to bother.

oneillk1 · Nov 7, 2006

In years' past, we were encouraged to get flu shots. This year it is mandatory. I never got them before because the only time I did I was feverish and sick for a couple of days afterward. I have only gotten the real flu 1 time in the past 20 years! So, yesterday I dutifully went for my flu shot and here I am with a fever and feeling sore and miserable. And, yes, they expect me to go to work tomorrow. Hopefully the fever will be gone. I HATE flu shots!!!:angryfire

I am with you, I have had 2 flu shots in the past 10 years, both times I have had horrible fatigue, muscle aches, and susceptibility to every cold virus. The first time I thought it was just a bad year, but I tried it again last year and it got so bad that they were thinking I may have had chronic fatigue syndrome. This went on for the whole winter. I have never had the flu in my life and I can name times that I have definitely been exposed to it. It is also mandatory where I am (New South Wales, Australia) to have a flu shot, unless medically contraindicated. I have been told that I need to have a letter from a doctor or I must have it.

I could quite happily put up with a week of fluish symptoms but not four or five months of being so tired that I physically can't get up in the morning

91C_ARMYLPN · Nov 7, 2006

I used to get the flu vaccine every year when I was on active duty. However, while I was a nursing student back in 1985, I had an anaphylactic reaction. No history of being allergic to eggs...it just suddenly happened.

The minute the flu vaccine was given my arm started burning, then itching, and I had hives from the injection site all the way down to my wrist. I felt lightheaded, took two steps, and I was down. This occurred in less than 5 minutes. I was quite used to multiple injections at a time. Being in the military

you are already a human pin cushion. But, this time was seriously different.

Before this incident, I always took the flu vaccine and remained very healthy.

Per doctor's orders, I can't take the flu vaccine, and when I get the flu it hits me real hard. Last year I had pnuemonia and was out of work for a week.

BSNtobe2009 · Nov 7, 2006

You could always lie and say you are allergic to eggs:lol2:

I would be afraid to do this...you'll get busted every time you eat a sandwich or pastries or most bread products around your co-workers.

When I become a nurse, I won't have any choice but to give the response, as another poster said, of what is commonly accepted in the medical community for treatment and recommend the flu shots.

But as an individual, who should have the right to decide whether or not to take treatment (epecially yearly), no way, no how would I take a mandatory shot, and I seriously question the legalities of a hospital forcing you to be required to take one.

Things like Hep, MMR's being updated, Tetanis (sp?), TB tests, I don't mind any testing, or things updated every few years. But there a huge debate on the flu shot. I feel that over-medication is wrong. I will personally deal with a great deal of physical pain before I even take a Tylonal. How can it not compromise the immune system after many, many years?

BSNtobe2009 · Nov 7, 2006

I would be eating egg salad and telling them I am allergic to eggs.

:yeah: :yeahthat: :cheers:

BSNtobe2009 · Nov 7, 2006

Ah, I missed your post - you said it so well. If you get sick with a virus, it wasn't the shot . . . you caught something.
steph

Can you explain how this would happen several years in a row with 100% accuracy, 7 to 10 days after taking the flu shot being all but bedridden for almost 2 weeks with fever, vomiting, you name it...and then mysterious, the year you stop taking the flu shot, you stop getting this mystery illness..and this continues year after year?

If someone was taking any type of medication, and experienced a certain symptom with 100% accuracy, in the exact same time frame from taking the same medication, wouldn't you advise them to stop taking it?

Of couse you would. I bet a doctor wouldn't even run a test if someone had several years of history on it.

Now, I'm not going to sit here and say the flu shot doesn't help anyone. That is obviously not true. However, I don't think it affects everyone the same, and for some, has a negative reaction. They may not be getting the flu from the flu shot, but they are getting SOMETHING that is being caused by the flu shot, and those individuals, nurses or not, should ever be forced to take it.

If I was forced to take a mandatory flu shot and told the hospital my reaction, it should be treated like any other work-related injury if you miss work because you are not feeling well or have a fever, and should not have to use your sick days, and they should have to pay you your full salary for every day you miss.

Once a hospital has to do that, I bet the mandatory shots would stop.