Refusing the Influenza Vaccine

[TheAmazingMrsA]

This may have already been talked about... so I apologize. I tried searching for a similar thread, but couldn't find one. I received my acceptance letter yesterday, with a date of June 1st to complete my health related requirements (i.e., vaccines, medical insurance, etc.). One of the requirements posted on the paperwork is the annual Influenza vaccine. I don't want the vaccine, and have no intention of getting it. I'm fully vaccinated for everything else, except Influenza. I won't start the whole mess of trying to explain my reasoning of not wanting the vaccine (it's a personal choice, and there's no need to start those arguments)... I just need to find out if anyone is in the same boat and if they successfully refused.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I don't get the flu shot, but I did get H1N1 from others who were sneezing all over the place after getting the nasal mist.

You have actual proof that this is how you got H1N1? Maybe this is how you got it, but I'm thinking that is pretty tough to prove.

Also, the influenza viruses are constantly evolving. I think it is pretty shortsighted to now declare your self "immune" and forever protected from any form of the flu.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

No, actually, it has been the same shot for the last two years. And the last "pandemic" that occurred, started on a military base. And it was in the last century. How long do you think we have been vaccinating? Maybe we don't have pandemics because of better sanitation and nutrition. I don't get the flu shot, but I did get H1N1 from others who were sneezing all over the place after getting the nasal mist. Got over it quickly, and now I am immune. Why would I want more of it injected into me?

You said it was the same shot "year, after year, after year" as though the vaccine never changes. Just not true.

Also, the last flu pandemic was in 2009; before that, a very lethal one occurred in 1968, killing a million people. There was also a flu pandemic in 1957-58. And of course, the mother of all modern flu pandemics was in 1918.

Also, the odds that a healthy person will contract the flu simply from being around people who have had flu mist is extremely remote. Even people who are in contact with immunosuppressed persons are allowed to get the flu mist vaccine.

[KatePasa]

I don't know if this had been said yet, but...

It's all about the PATIENT!

Get the vaccine to protect those whom you might come in contact with when you are in a prodromal state and don't even know you're sick.

[mystcnurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

From the Product Insert:

"FluMist contains live attenuated influenza viruses that must infect and replicate in cells lining the nasopharynx of the recipient to induce immunity. Vaccine viruses capable of infection and replication can be cultured from nasal secretions obtained from vaccine recipients. The relationship of viral replication in a vaccine recipient and transmission of vaccine viruses to other individuals has not been established.

Using the frozen formulation, a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was performed in a daycare setting in children

At least one vaccine strain was isolated from 80% of FluMist recipients; strains were recovered from 1-21 days post vaccination (mean duration of 7.6 days ± 3.4 days). The cold-adapted(ca) and temperature-sensitive (ts) phenotypes were preserved in 135 tested of 250 strains isolated at the local laboratory. Ten influenza isolates (9 influenza A, 1 influenza B) were cultured from a total of seven placebo subjects. One placebo subject had mild symptomatic Type B virus infection confirmed as a transmitted vaccine virus by a FluMist recipient in the same playgroup. This Type B isolate retained the

ca, ts, and att phenotypes of the vaccine strain, and had the same genetic sequence when compared to a Type B virus cultured from a vaccine recipient within the same playgroup. Four of the influenza Type A isolates were confirmed as wild-type A/Panama (H3N2). The remaining isolates could not be further characterized.

Assuming a single transmission event (isolation of the Type B vaccine strain), the probability of a young child acquiring vaccine virus following close contact with a single FluMist vaccinee in this daycare setting was 0.58% (95% CI: 0, 1.7) based on the Reed-Frost model. With documented transmission of one Type B in one placebo subject and possible transmission of Type A viruses in four placebo subjects, the probability of acquiring a transmitted vaccine virus was estimated to be 2.4% (95% CI: 0.13, 4.6), using the Reed-Frost model.

The duration of FluMist vaccine virus replication and shedding have not been established."

So, "extremely remote"? Maybe, but it happened to me, I can assure you. I cannot, however, assure any potential employer, because I am not allowed to have a titer drawn to PROVE that I am immune to whatever strain is being forced in any particular year. The bottom line is that there is very little evidence of efficacy and particularly, safety... especially in the long term. Autoimmune disorders are on the rise, and I really have to wonder why.

[LiLev]

At our orientation they made it very clear that its not optional, maybe it depends on the school.

[mystcnurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

And the 2009 pandemic was propoganda for the pharmaceutical companies. Nothing about the flu in 2009 met any criteria for "pandemic".

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

everyone is entitled to their opinion, mystcnurse is a family nurse practitioner and not a student. i recommend any student who is refusing mandatory vaccinations contact their school and pcp to determine what options are open for them. refusing vaccinations will have consequences that will vary with the facility and nursing program and only an individual can decide if refusing a vaccination is worthy of being refused admission into their program. i feel debating the efficacy of the vaccinations may not assist any student or nurse in making this decision......;and the pcp needs to be contacted.

this discussion occurs around school enrollments and flu season. i am of the opinion that this must be discussed with individual primary care practitioner of the person in question as to debate a subject with little or no medical history information one cannot give the advice necessary to make an informed opinion.

giving medical advice here at an is against the terms of service and one must always contact their pcp to make an informed personal decision.

the is a wealth of information available in the pandemic flu forum. further inquires can be done there as the thread life has run it's course.