Forced to get flu shot or wear a mask

VANurse2010 · Sep 7, 2016

Count yourself lucky, where I work you don't have a choice. You have to get the shot or be fired. The only exception is if you can prove you had guillain barre or an anaphylactic reaction. A committee then decides whether to accept your Dr's excuse or you lose your job. And if you are accepted you have to wear a mask at all times for the entire flu season!
Of course many people will tell you a flu shot is like taking vitamins, safe for everyone; and downplay the risks of paralysis and tell you it's your moral duty to get the flu shot. Funny how so many fellow health care workers are concerned about the various sundry duties a person must due to be a proper upstanding nurse! Don't you know you have to give up the right over your own body and what you put in it for this noble job!
I've taken care of several people with guillain barre from a flu shot, if it's so rare why have I seen it so often? FYI if you are older than 50 your risks are higher! Also Bells Palsy is linked to the flu shot as well, not as serious, but certainly physically upsetting!
That said many on here will post that you are ignorant and not a good nurse if you are against the flu shot or simply want to have the choice of what you put into your body. You will not find a sympathetic audience here on this issue, sad to say!

The plural of anecdote is not evidence.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2016

The association of Guillain-Barre syndrome is higher with actual influenza infection than it is with flu vaccine.

allnurses Guide · Sep 7, 2016

Boston, you'll always be a favorite but for a good reason not for being an outright wackadoo!

Thanks for qualifying that

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2016

I've taken care of several people with guillain barre from a flu shot, if it's so rare why have I seen it so often? FYI if you are older than 50 your risks are higher! Also Bells Palsy is linked to the flu shot as well, not as serious, but certainly physically upsetting!

Childhood cancer is, in reality, pretty rare. Yet we saw cases of it at Duke all the time. Hundreds of them. I'd go as far as to say thousands over the course of several years.

Know why? We had a pediatric cancer center.

You see this stuff because you work in health care. You work where the sick people go! Also: "several people" over the course of how long? That hardly qualifies as seeing it "so often".

I had four grandparents survive the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918. One of them was only a few months old; the other three were 14, 12, and 9. I bet they would've given anything for a flu vaccine. Two of them were in Philadelphia. Read about how the bodies were pouring into Donohue Funeral Home (ironically, the folks who have handled arrangements for that side of my family SINCE about that time!) so quickly you can see the changes in the documentation in the intake ledgers - how they went from neat to scribbles...from full detail to sex, approximate age, and date....

Bring on the wonders of modern medicine, please.

elkpark · Sep 7, 2016

The association of Guillain-Barre syndrome is higher with actual influenza infection than it is with flu vaccine.

And the rate is no higher among those who have received the flu vaccine than it is among those who haven't had the vaccine. There was one year, 1976, that there actually was a problem with the flu shot and GBS (which was admittedly tragic), and, although there has never been a connection with the flu shot any other year, some people are still maintaining the myth that there is an ongoing risk.

tcvnurse, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2016

I don't know if you guys remember but a few years ago the flu was bad. I mean, really REALLY bad. Our ED and med surge floors were overflowing with flu patients. A lot of them died. Many many people that year died. From influenza. Personally, I, and all my family, will be getting the flu vaccine.

Editorial Team / Admin · Sep 7, 2016

I don't know if you guys remember but a few years ago the flu was bad. I mean, really REALLY bad. Our ED and med surge floors were overflowing with flu patients. A lot of them died. Many many people that year died. From influenza. Personally, I, and all my family, will be getting the flu vaccine.

I remember hospitals in the next city over having to set up tents that basically functioned as flu ERs. It was ugly. I really just don't understand people's resistance to vaccines. My local paper recently talked about how physician offices are turning away patients who refuse to vaccinate (self or child) because of the risks to the unable to be vaccinated. The comments are so incredibly misinformed- the debunked autism thing, that the diseases weren't that bad, etc. Wonder what they'll be telling themselves when these diseases come back.

roser13, ASN, RN · Sep 7, 2016

I remember hospitals in the next city over having to set up tents that basically functioned as flu ERs. It was ugly. I really just don't understand people's resistance to vaccines. My local paper recently talked about how physician offices are turning away patients who refuse to vaccinate (self or child) because of the risks to the unable to be vaccinated. The comments are so incredibly misinformed- the debunked autism thing, that the diseases weren't that bad, etc. Wonder what they'll be telling themselves when these diseases come back.

I firmly believe that only those who have not experienced an epidemic, whether thru personal experience or thru close attention to history, are anti-vaccine. They just don't know what they don't know and are unwilling to go there in their imaginations. Or their common sense/nursing education.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2016

I remember hospitals in the next city over having to set up tents that basically functioned as flu ERs. It was ugly. I really just don't understand people's resistance to vaccines. My local paper recently talked about how physician offices are turning away patients who refuse to vaccinate (self or child) because of the risks to the unable to be vaccinated. The comments are so incredibly misinformed- the debunked autism thing, that the diseases weren't that bad, etc. Wonder what they'll be telling themselves when these diseases come back.

The same thing they do now: that it's our fault because we vaccinated. We created super diseases. :dead:

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Sep 8, 2016

Somebody on Facebook today just posted about vaccines. Oh my goodness the ignorance was crazy. It took absolutely everything I had to not comment, because you can't reason with the stuff I read today. Really, you can't.

With the emergence of the Internet, people have all the sudden become Internet doctors and experts on everything. I've seen docs, microbiology, zoologists, well, just about every expert you can find. I mean, why do we have college? Why have degrees when you can search the Internet and be one your very own PH.D. Really? Why do we?

The flu vaccine is as important as all the rest. I know, it's hit or miss every year, but, it's still important. It's important that I'm not a carrier to my patients that can't get it. It's not for me, it's for them. People get that confused. I'm sure if I got the flu, I myself, could beat it. Most of my patients though, cannot.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2016

Predicting viral shift is like predicting the weather: you can take your best guess based on the information at hand but taking along an umbrella (or in this case getting the vaccine!) is never a bad idea.

nursej22, MSN, RN · Sep 8, 2016

My employer has set several requirements of employment: I must show up on time; I must dress and act in a professional manner; I must maintain licensure; and I must stay current on recommended immunizations (many of these are required by clinical sites).

I knew all this when I applied for work. No one is forcing me to work for this employer.

P.S. I got the Swine Flu vaccine and was very ill for about 4 days. Having seen a coworker die from the H1N1, what I experienced was minimal.