Forced to get flu shot or wear a mask

cherryelle07 · Sep 8, 2016

Oh my goodness the melodrama in this thread both entertains and induces an eye roll so severe, they might just get stuck.

Yes.... Those Cooperate Overlords TOTALLY want ALL of their employees laid up with GBS so they can close their hospitals, because staffing ratios are so dangerously low.

I will happily be getting my flu shot this year, because I work in a walk in clinic where we will be seeing multiple positive flu cases and I'd rather not bring that crude home with me or pass it on to anyone who I might come into contact with. It's certainly your choice not to get it, but it's also your employer's choice not to employ you in the case that you do not fill the requirements for employment. You'll be hard pressed to find a hospital that does not have this policy or something similar. Right now the flu vaccine isn't a requirement where I work, but its recommended due to the large amounts of flu cases we see each year.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2016

I've actually never worked anywhere that mandated flu vaccine as a condition of employment. All of them offered it for free, though.

cherryelle07 · Sep 8, 2016

I haven't either. I work in a walk in clinic, so its recommended and free, but not required. We are only required to get an annual PPD.

elkpark · Sep 8, 2016

It is not a myth or there wouldn't be a payouts from the govt vaccine compensation board. Which in itself is a total crock of **** because the govt has given the pharmaceutical companies blanket immunity from any adverse reactions to their vaccines. Injured parties have no recourse to sue for compensation and govt board is woefully inadequate. I believe however this is once again unique to America while other countries such as in Europe still allow injured parties to sue for cause!

Yes, some people who had had the flu shot have developed GBS. So have people who haven't gotten the flu shot. The fact that people who develop GBS after receiving the flu shot do so at about the same rate as people who haven't had the flu shot suggests strongly that the flu shot does not increase your risk (let alone, God help us all, "cause" GBS, as you state). People claim all kinds of reactions to vaccinations to the US vaccine compensations board -- just as people claim all kinds of side effects to other kinds of medications. The fact that someone experienced a health problem after receiving a vaccination or taking other kinds of medication does not, by itself, in the absence of some kind of pattern among lots of people over time, mean that there is a causal relationship between the vaccine or medication and the negative outcome. It really hard to imagine that you are an actual nurse and can't understand this stuff. Did you manage to get through school without any study of infectious disease or statistics??

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2016

Hopefully, enough to knock them down once and for all.

While many of the practices of Big Pharma and our (on occasion not so) illustrious FDA do indeed make me want to vomit, like it or not, we still need them.

Unless you plan on growing penicillin in your basement.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2016

Honestly I think it has a lot to do with the fact people hear "tuberculosis" and are scared and they hear "flu" and aren't.
How many of those staunch "anti-vaxxers" would have been lining up for an Ebola vaccine back when that whole circus was ongoing?

You know they were all blaming us for that, right?

The anti-vaxxers amuse me. Perusing Facebook for that sort of stuff is what I do over my morning coffee and my evening tea or cocoa, depending on the season. But I'm a bit odd. :roflmao:

allnurses Guide · Sep 8, 2016

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2016

The CDC itself warns that the flu vaccine can cause guillain barre along with other side effects. That is a fact! If you are the unlucky one it happens to say goodbye to your career and more importantly to the life you knew! You will probably end up disabled, perhaps even to the point of spending the rest of your life in a nursing home! Your only recourse is the govt vaccine compensation board which is very stingy with compensation and takes years to get!
As to those that claim the flu vaccine saves the day, the reality is many times its ineffective. I believe last year it was only about 20%! While the actual efficacy varies, the serious side effects are real!

In reality! Last year's flu vax efficacy! Was forty-seven percent!

(See how insane it is to overpunctuate? And how it detracts from the overall meaning of your post?)

In 2004-2005, the year I believe everyone is referencing when they're talking about all the deaths, the rate was ten percent. They apparently nailed it in 2010-2011 as the rate was 60 percent.

Like I said, predicting viral shift is like trying to predict the weather.

Kitiger, RN · Sep 9, 2016

I've actually never worked anywhere that mandated flu vaccine as a condition of employment. All of them offered it for free, though.

I wish I could get mine for free. Still, I get it every year because it protects me and it protects my medically fragile clients.

guest940422 · Sep 9, 2016

I've worked in 7 hospitals over 9 years (former traveler) and that has been the policy at EVERY one of them. Some hospitals even give you a special badge when you get your flu shot so people who have not had theirs can be easily identified and told to put their mask on. Furthermore the mask must be changed every 30 min and before entering and exiting a room (think of it as a pair of gloves) to comply with with most infection control recommendations. While immunization is a pretty sensitive topic to some people, and the precautions don't seem fair to those who have allergies or other legitimate reasons to skip the shot. Lets face it. If someone has a runny nose in the hospital during flu season and is there for a broken leg, they probably just got over or are just getting the flu. The flu shot isn't perfect but it helps. We also forget that work is not the highest risk place for many of us to get the flu. I don't have kids. Even though I work with a highly infectious chronic population of pediatric patients I get sick way less than my coworkers who have kids in public schools. Get the shot so you don't end up bringing it to work with you (plenty of other people are already doing that). I don't really know if the mask prevents you from getting or spreading the virus if you refuse immunization. I think it is more of a deterrent. No one wants to wear a mask for 4-5 months for 12 hours at a time so they cave and just get the damn shot. In my experience it has been very loosely enforced anyway.

My hospital hits you where it really hurts. Our winter bonus's are based on flu shot compliance.

GM2RN · Sep 9, 2016

It's not mandatory at my hospital. I don't take it and never will.

AvaRose · Sep 9, 2016

I'll get mine here shortly. I finally just got my first RN job today so I don't want to rock the boat. No more Walmart hell and about 3x more money each check :) Plus actual useful health insurance (Medicaid doesn't really count as useful).