Get the Flu shot or get fired?

[CoolBreeze]

I have mixed emotions about this.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Charleston Area Medical Center employees must get seasonal flu shots this year or risk losing their jobs.

All CAMC Health System workers must get vaccinated by Dec. 15 or their employment will be terminated, CAMC said in its August newsletter Vital Signs.

"The strongest recommendation that's out there is to take the vaccine every year," CAMC Director of Epidemiology Terrie Lee said Tuesday. "Our board of trustees and administrators had been discussing this for a couple years. We decided this year to make it a mandatory process for all of our employees.

http://www.dailymail.com/News/200908250802

[genlock]

We can't have Typhoid Mary running around the hospital, can we?

[Hoosier Daddy]

In a health care setting, as long as the employer is willing to absorb the costs, I don't have a problem with it. If this round of the flu is as nasty as predicted, we cannot afford for 40-60% (or more) of our physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers to be ill and out of service -- or, worse yet -- working in the hospital and unknowingly serving as a carrier of the disease, making their daily rounds from one medically compromised patient to the next.

[CoolBreeze]

Probably the biggest vehicle of disease and virus in the hospital are the employees themselves. Whenever working in these conditions, you must take precautions against more serious issues like Hepatitis C for instance. (I know I did. There no threat of firing but I accepted the shot willfully for my own protection).

The other side of me wonders just how many chemicals in the future you will be forced to inject into your body under the threat of firing however.... and what setting? Radio DJ? Office help?

[Bob Campbell]

I think radio djs already take care of making sure they ingest enough chemicals.

[fearpeddler]

i could understand the traditional flu shot, but I know i'm not comfortable with a vaccine for a relatively new virus... so i dont expect anyone else to be either.. I'd sue the shit out of my workplace if they tried that junk....

[genlock]

I think I got the swine flu back in '67 or whenever.
If so, I do not need the shot for that one.
I will need the shot for the regular, seasonal flu.

[CoolBreeze]

Yep... saw this coming....


N.Y. Health Care Workers Revolt Over H1N1 Vaccine
Saying They Should Be Given A Choice, Employees Rally In Albany, Around State, Chant "No Forced Shots!"

TONY BROOK, N.Y. (CBS) ―

New York is the first state in the country to mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers. The first doses of swine flu vaccine will be available beginning next week. Much of it is reserved for state health care workers, but there is growing opposition to required innoculations.

Health care workers in Hauppauge screamed "No forced shots!" as they rallied Tuesday against the state regulation requiring them to roll up their sleeves.

"I don't even tend to the sick. I am in the nutrition field. They are telling me I must get the shot because I work in a health clinic setting," said Paula Small, a Women, Infants and Children health care worker.

Small said she will refuse, worried the vaccine is untested and unproven, leaving her vulnerable. In 1976, there were some deaths associated with a swine flu vaccination.

Registered nurse Frank Mannino, 50, was also angry. He said the state regulation violates his personal freedom and civil rights.

"And now I will lose my job if I don't take the regular flu shot or the swine flu shot."

When asked if he's willing to lose his job, Mannino said, "Absolutely. I will not take it, will not be forced. This is still America."

The protest also shook Albany Tuesday. Hundreds of demonstrators demanded freedom of choice. After all, as health care professionals they argue they're already constantly washing their hands and aren't likely to transmit or contract the flu.

Around 500,000 health care workers are slated to receive the vaccine.

"It's certainly their prerogative to voice their opinion," said Dr. Susan Donelan of Stony Brook University Hospital.

Donelan said most in the medical community see the benefits and safety of the shots and welcome them, and that hospitals must obey the law.

"Our hospital is committed to following the mandate to have our personnel vaccinated," she said.

The state said change was needed this year to save lives, typically only about 45 percent of health care workers take advantage of voluntary flu vaccines.

More....

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/swine.flu. ... 16352.html