Flu shots

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The hospitals that my school assign us to for do clinicals at are making it an requirement that we receive the H1N1 and seasonal flu shots. I never had either and I never had the flu. I am really against getting the vaccines esp. the H1N1 because it is so new. This new flu emerged in April 2009, therefor I feel the vaccine have not been out long enough. This is just me and how I feel. Is this at every school?:uhoh3:

Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

Generally speaking though, I don't think a hospital has much of a leg to stand on when they start [trying] to mandate vaccinations of their health care workers under the guise to "protect" the patients. If that were the basis of their reasoning, then why are they not requiring the same of visitors coming to see their loved ones?

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Generally speaking though, I don't think a hospital has much of a leg to stand on when they start [trying] to mandate vaccinations of their health care workers under the guise to "protect" the patients. If that were the basis of their reasoning, then why are they not requiring the same of visitors coming to see their loved ones?

Visitors don't generally go from room to room the way students do.

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Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.
Visitors don't generally go from room to room the way students do.

Well most rooms are not private, so they are coming in contact with other patients. And they are walking the halls, breathing the same air, using communal bathrooms, cafeterias, etc.

Same difference to me.

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The process how vaccines work is pretty straightforward. Check out this link from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/vaccines/PDF/undvacc.pdf

Explains it perfectly without alot of jargon.

Do not misinterpret my intentions here I am not trying to say everyone must get the flu shot, it is your personal choice but I feel that as nurses it is important to understand how vaccines (including the flu vaccine) work so we can provide our patients with the facts so they can make informed decisions for themselves. That is all I care about. :)

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So, what about his information was wrong? You didn't like his tone....I acknowledged that. His information was still factual.

I was saying "wrong" to you. You stated he simply gave information. I was telling you that you are wrong about that. He said it in his post that he wouldn't go into giving factual evidence to back up his claims because the OP was obiously stupid and not listening in class.

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Specializes in Urgent Care NP, Emergency Nursing, Camp Nursing.
I was saying "wrong" to you. You stated he simply gave information. I was telling you that you are wrong about that. He said it in his post that he wouldn't go into giving factual evidence to back up his claims because the OP was obiously stupid and not listening in class. Sorry I had to spell it out for you.

What I said was that it'd be lost on the OP as she had obviously not paid attention in classes - under which I included her prerequisite biology classes (which I thought a fair assumption to make as she posted to the general nursing student board). I argue this issue a lot, but I'm really tired of sparring online with people whose only knowledge about vaccines and immunology comes from other people using scare tactics or from the University of Google - hence my resorting to Paralipsis.

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Basically it comes down to whether or not you want to attend school with the requirements that are in place. You can either bite the bullet and get the vaccine, try to find another school that doesn't require it or take a stand and try to fight. The chance of finding another school without the requirement of the H1N1 is probably low since all your schools in your area probably use the hospitals that are requiring this. Taking a stand and fighting could cause you to lose out on nursing school for who knows how long.

Ours school did require the H1N1 until the state requirement was dropped. We were then highly encouraged to get it. I had planned on it anyways. As others have stated this is not a new vaccine, but a new virus. If you haven't had issues with the flu vaccine then you should be ok. I am old enough to have seen the effects of the diseases we vaccinate for. I also understand that side effects do occur and some people should just not get vaccinated. But I continue to take a stand that vaccines for the most part are good and do outweigh the risks the carry. The only one I'm still waffling on is the chickenpox vaccine - unless you are an adult that hasn't had the disease.

Good luck on whatever you do.

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I was saying "wrong" to you. You stated he simply gave information. I was telling you that you are wrong about that. He said it in his post that he wouldn't go into giving factual evidence to back up his claims because the OP was obiously stupid and not listening in class.

He was giving information (see bolded below) the overwhelming majority of his post is information about the shot. Sorry he didn't go into a complete microbiology lecture to explain the basis of vaccinations....but the info he provided is correct. Please point out what information was incorrect...

By saying this you show that you don't know anything about flu shots, seasonal or H1N1. The seasonal shot is reformulated every year, with three strains picked based on the best guesses of leading epidemiologists almost a year in advance (because there's such a long lead-time in making the shot). This means that there is no one tried and tested set of strains for the shot. However, the means of making the vaccine once the strains are selected is the same, year in and year out. The H1N1 strain emerged after the three strains were picked, which is why there was an additional shot this year. While it's a different strain, it is manufactured the exact same way.

I'd go on to explain why anti-vaccination fear-mongering is stupid, but you apparently haven't paid enough attention in class for any of what I'd say to stick.

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He was giving information (see bolded below) the overwhelming majority of his post is information about the shot. Sorry he didn't go into a complete microbiology lecture to explain the basis of vaccinations....but the info he provided is correct. Please point out what information was incorrect...

Why do you keep trying to justify him being a total *******...I'm not arguing about his stance on vaccines...I'm arguing about his rude, arrogant response to the OP. Good lord. Why is that so hard for you to understand?! I'm done going back and forth about this stupid crap. Good night!

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You are right I am a new nursing student, and don't know much about the flu shots we haven't reached that area as of yet. But a little word of advice post your facts and not your negative opinions its unprofessional.

Thanks.

Perhaps the response given was too strident, but you should take responsibility for your own statements as well.

In your OP, you made strong declarative statements about vaccine technology and then you retreated to a babe-in-the-woods stance when corrected.

I am extremely displeased by the amount of total misinformation being spread about vaccines in general, but when people in the health profession (or preparing for the health profession) contribute, it bothers me even more.

The person responding was blunt, but was not being an a-hole.

As students, it is inevitable we are going to be wrong - a lot. We are also going to be corrected and depending on the situation, that correction may not come with a velvet glove.

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Why do you keep trying to justify him being a total *******...I'm not arguing about his stance on vaccines...I'm arguing about his rude, arrogant response to the OP. Good lord. Why is that so hard for you to understand?! I'm done going back and forth about this stupid crap. Good night!

You're right, it's just not possible that we disagree....that would mean there's a possibility that you're... ...wrong about something. Sorry, to hard to contemplate....it must be that I'm dense.

Or it could be that I wasn't arguing, I was pointing out an inaccuracy. My original statement was that whether or not you agreed with his communication style, his information was correct...and it was factually correct....you just didn't like his communication style. You said I was wrong and that he didn't give factual information and I pointed out (and quoted) that the majority of his post contained info about the H1N1 vaccine,

My original statement stands: whether or not you liked Squire's tone, the information he gave was correct. Point out what wasn't correct or leave me alone that I said it was.

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They were going to require H1N1 for our clinicals but we got out of it because of availability issues. At the time they were still prioritizing and students were weing refused. They still required the seasonal though, or a waiver. If the waiver was signed we would be required to wear a mask during clinicals. My thought is that they may require it later since availability no longer seems to be a problem and the public agencies have since dropped the priority requirement and opened vaccination to everyone.

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