Immunizations & nursing school

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Hello All,

I need some advice on the approach I should take regarding a controversial topic. I am currently in the process of applying to nursing school & have never received immunizations because of personal reasons. I recently emailed my advisor about the issue and asked to receive declination forms to sign. She stated that nursing students are required to have current and updated immunizations and that hospitals have the right to deny me clinical rotation in their facility. My concern is that this cannot possibly be correct. Entering a hospital with no immunization history is my own personal risk. If I get sick, that is my problem. Also, there has to be a doctor or nurse in the entire country who has refused immunizations. Why did the college of nursing not contact me when I entered the university & listed my major as nursing? I am pretty devastated to say the least & am scared that I may have to withdraw my application or this issue with put a "red x" by my name. Does anyone have any feedback on this issue?

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

" Depends on whose research you believe[/i]."

The "research" that takes note of the eradication or near-eradication of fatal viruses capable of causing panedemics?

Smallpox, anyone?

How about Bubonic Plague?

Polio?

Except, of course, for those diseases that are starting to make a comeback due to the anti-vaccine movement.

Whooping cough?

S.I.G.H.

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" Depends on whose research you believe[/i]."

The "research" that takes note of the eradication or near-eradication of fatal viruses capable of causing panedemics?

Smallpox, anyone?

How about Bubonic Plague?

Polio?

Except, of course, for those diseases that are starting to make a comeback due to the anti-vaccine movement.

Whooping cough?

S.I.G.H.

When you weigh the risks (minimal) of getting a booster pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine vs watching a newborn DIE from a PREVENTABLE condition . . . . the baby wins that contest. :up:

Unfortunately when we start a conversation about vaccines, controversy unfolds.

However, I think this is good for the OP to read because this is all new for the OP . . . I just wish the OP would post again.

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Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.
However I think this is good for the OP to read because this is all new for the OP . . . I just wish the OP would post again.[/quote']

Agreed! OP, I asked this a few posts back, but could you please elaborate on your thoughts? I am not interested in starting a vicious argument, but I am curious! I can only hope that a group of adults would be able to talk about a controversial topic without animosity...

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This is not really an issue of vaccine pros vs cons. Even some of the biggest anti-vaccine groups admit that it is perfectly legal in the healthcare industry and military to require vaccines and they can prevent you from work/school if you refuse the vaccines (not that the groups like it, but they admit that's the way it is and legal). So yes, hospitals/schools can require that you have certain vaccines to do clinicals and it is legal for them to prevent you from participating without them.

I'm trying to remember the one anti-vaccine website (that /everyone/ always quotes from) that address this question specifically and shows legal cases where the courts have upheld the vaccine requirement and if a person does not agree, then they have the option to not participate in the program.

The same hold true with hospitals and requiring vaccines (such as yearly flu shots). While most hospitals do make exceptions, it is and has been proven legal for them to force the issue and give you the option of either taking the vaccine or finding a new job.

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Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.
I would much rather risk exposure, knowing that there is much that I can do to successfully prevent disease, and trust my body to do it's job of fighting the disease, if actually acquired, than take the risk of actually putting know harmful substances in my body.

Yeah that worked real well against polio.

Your approach was tried - before vaccines were developed. People got tired of counting dead bodies.

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I lived (thankfully) through a long stay in the ICU on a vent because of contracting Hib as a child. I also live every day with the side effects of the powerful antibiotics that were required to overcome the infection. I'm glad that there is a vaccine now and that other children don't have to have their life affected by such a horrible experience. Yes, the vaccine, like all drugs, does very very rarely have side effects and I think it's horrible for the very few children that have the misfortune to experience such a thing. However, I feel much more horrible for the countless MORE children would would die or end up with additional problems if it did not exist. Hib related meningitis was the number one killer of children in the US under 3 at one point and I'm not talking 100 years ago, more like the 70s and 80s.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

"Again, while the risk may be certain, acquiring an actual disease is far from it. I would much rather risk exposure, knowing that there is much that I can do to successfully prevent disease, and trust my body to do it's job of fighting the disease, if actually acquired, than take the risk of actually putting know harmful substances in my body. Besides, if you don't think that you can actually prevent acquiring a highly contagious disease by using proper precautions, and that acquiring a highly contagious disease is inevitable , then precautions become unnecessary."

I pray that you go to your grave with your convictions intact, because that will mean that you did not contract a fatal disease. I do believe, though, that all it will take is one brush with a serious, highly preventable illness either by yourself or by one of your loved ones to engineer a serious re-evaluation of the issue.

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I haven't come to the conclusions that I have about vaccines without much thought, reading, and discussion...

And therein lies the problem with the anti-vaccination crowd.

And the problem with the pro-vaccination crowd is that they completely ignore the statement above where I quoted myself.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

When I fall over dead from the vaccines I got back in 1979 you'll be the first to know.

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Specializes in Intermediate care.

I agree with the others. You cannot enter into a hospital facility without your immunizations, not because you are putting yourself at risk but because you are putting your patients at risk. You are going to be coming in contact with patients who have a compromised immune system and a very susceptible to becoming sick.

There are a few vaccinations that are not required because you would only be posing a risk to yourself.

Also...TB testing is not technically a vaccination, but it is using a needle, so i'm not sure your thoughts on TB testing, but this is a must.

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Specializes in Intermediate care.

i remember when H1N1 was going around. I was a CNA at the time in my hospital i work at now as an RN. but i had signed a refusal for the H1N1, i never got my flu shots. So i'm working one day and health services actually comes up to my floor and gets me, sits me in a private room and talks to me.

I know H1N1 was a "choice" but the people who denied it were kinda "forced" into getting it.

Anyone who got their H1N1 was put in the drawing for all sorts of fun prizes. I won a 19 inch flat screen TV :) woot woot!

one of my coworkers won a 50 inch flat screen, samsung TV.

^example of how much hospitals value immunizations. Not often do they get those nice of gifts for us. Usually its something like a lunch bag from the hospital gift shop, or a lifetime supply of 99 cent pens.

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When I fall over dead from the vaccines I got back in 1979 you'll be the first to know.

This is just a ridiculous statement. You would have to claim that every single person who ever got/gets a vaccination will die for it to have any validity. It's attitudes like this that make it impossible to have a serious, professional discussion on this topic.

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