Flu Vaccine, enough already!

[Bklyn_RN]

Yes, we are in flu season. And it seems you can't go anywhere without being bombarded/enticed to get the flu vaccine. A lot of times scare tactics are used also. They tried making it mandatory for nurses last season but that failed, thank goodness. Then a friend went to a job interview, and a condition of employment was that she had to get the flu vaccine even though she did not want it.

Yet recently, a healthcare employer (I have declined to identify) went as far as to offer employees who get the flu vaccine (at work), entry into a raffle for a hot electronic gadget. I just think its too much. People already know about the flu vaccine and have made an educated decision about whether they want it or not. Flu vaccines have become extremely commercialized, which leads me to conclude that a financial windfall is being made somewhere. Just sayin...

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Maybe it's because those shots actually do the intended job...a flu shot is a GUESS that you will be protected.

There is no vaccine that is 100%, and the scientists who develop the flu shot do a little more than guess. That is like declining a potentially life-saving treatment because it might not work. Risk versus benefit. My point is that hospitals have the right to make it a condition of employment. Either roll up your sleeves or find employment elsewhere. No one's rights are being violated.

[canigraduate]

I can't believe there are 10 pages of this. Wow.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Moved to AN's Pandemic Flu forum

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

get used to this . soon we will all be lining up in lines for god knows what. where i work you must get the flu vaccine or you must wear a mask from about oct-april.............then explain to everyone who asks(pts/visitors) why you are wearing a mask................................

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Every year - same argument...................:smokin:

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

i am pretty suprised that companies(not entertainment related ones or ones where looks matter a lot........) don't require all employees to be a certain weight. this is comming next along with the no smokers etc.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Can you provide a study(s) that shows the effectiveness of the flu vaccine?

Check our sticked posts at top of Pandemic Flu forum: Flu Facts

How effective is the flu vaccine?

Inactivated influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) can vary from year to year and among different age and risk groups. For more information about vaccine effectiveness, visit How Well Does the Seasonal Flu Vaccine Work?

[jimthorp]

Your comments show no such understanding. You keep requesting that a law specific to the flu shot be cited. There is none. Precedent would govern, and the courts. This law may well be applicable should such a case come to court. Neither you nor I are attorneys.

You better go back and reread your post and mine.

You said :

You don't have the freedom to put others at risk for potentially deadly illnesses, either.

To which I asked you to cite the law to back up your assertion. While I understand this discussion is about the flu, you made a general statement.

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

wearing ppe and getting a foriegn substance injected into your body are two very different things. how is that not plainly obvious?

both reduce the chances of the hospital being held liable for personal injury. how is it not the same?

(note that i said "reduce" not "eliminate" -- there are no guarantees in life.... or death)

and as purple_scrubs said later on in the thread:

there is no vaccine that is 100%, and the scientists who develop the flu shot do a little more than guess. that is like declining a potentially life-saving treatment because it might not work. risk versus benefit. my point is that hospitals have the right to make it a condition of employment. either roll up your sleeves or find employment elsewhere. no one's rights are being violated.

[MyUserName,RN]

I believe compulsive hand washing will be adequate.. as you know covering your mouth when you sneeze or cough and washing your hands regularly can cut down infection quite well. Further, if flu season is that bad, sure I'll wear a mask. I don't consider the flu shot 'beloved'.. that's just silly. It's a tool to help prevent the spread of disease as well as help prevent you from contracting it. I got it for the first time a few weeks ago.. as required by my school. If I don't get it, I don't get to go to school. My choice was a no-brainer. I suspect for most people being required for work is a no-brainer too.

The first time I ever got the flu shot was because I had to for school. I got the flu anyways that year. I'm thankful that my hospital, so far, doesnt force the vaccine on employees. I did not get it this year. Oh and if compulsive habdwashing was all you needed to do to keep from spreading or contracting flu to or from pts, why does anyone wear a mask? Flu is airborne hunny.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

I think Do-over has an excellent point. Mass vaccinations work at reducing disease because it reduces the number of potential hosts -- Measles can't get going if there's greater than a certain percentage of immune potential hosts (78% is coming to mind for some reason). Immunizations against things like polio, or smallpox, or measles work because there's not a big enough reservoir to keep the infection breeding. Polio is spread fecal to oral -- think about all the e.coli outbreaks, the listeria outbreaks --- those kill people as well, but when you see e. coli, that could just as easily be polio, if people stop vaccinating their kids.

I think we really have forgotten the horror of what happens when a new bacteria hits a population with no inborn immunity. But not to worry. Eventually, some bacteria or virus out there will mutate, drift or shift to the point where we will all once again learn this. The hard way.

The one lesson of history is...nobody learns from history.

I have been reading up a lot on Polio and the Iron Lung. So thankful for that vaccine!!!!

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I have never advocated mandatory flu vaccines, so my question has nothing to do with that.

Do you consider all vaccines to be "poison?"

All medicines have negative side effect. All have deletirous effects if you take too many of any one of them (in most cases, this is death). All drugs are poisons. A certain amoung will not harm most people, but another amount will kill most people...