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New York State Adopts Mandatory Flu Vaccination Program
For Health Workers
Opposition from nurses association falls on deaf ears
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A New York State health authority has adopted a regulation that
mandates every health care worker in the state to be vaccinated
against influenza.
The news was announced last week by the New York
State Hospital Planning and Review Council, despite overwhelming
opposition from the nation's oldest and largest state professional
association for registered nurses.
The council adopted the proposal as an emergency
rule that could go into effect before this winter’s flu
season, according to a report by EndoNurse
Magazine.
The policy will effect all healthcare workers,
including volunteers, that have any contact with patients whether
it be in hospitals, treatment centers, home care programs or
hospices.
The ruling discounts any exemption from immunization
for religious or cultural preferences.
The
New York State Nurses Association described the
council’s action as a “scorched earth” approach
during testimony.
“While we encourage nurses to be immunized
for the flu, we do not agree that nurses should be required
to get immunizations as a condition of employment,” said
Eileen Avery, RN, associate director of the association’s
Education, Practice & Research Program.
“The seasonal flu vaccine is not 100 percent
effective and sometimes is highly ineffective, as it was in
2005 and 2007,” Avery said. “There is no guarantee
that in any given year, the public will benefit from mandatory
immunization of healthcare providers.”
Avery also described the move as "effectively
blocking" any individuals who are opposed to vaccines from
earning their livelihood.
(Article continues below)
Calls for increased vaccination have been spurred
by the ongoing H1N1 outbreak, which has also seen new regulations
put in place to provide pharmaceutical companies with blanket
immunity from lawsuits.
"Vaccine makers and federal officials will
be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine,
under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services
Kathleen Sebelius," reported
the Associated Press last month.
Although no formal announcement has yet been made,
it has been suggested by health authorities that the upcoming
mass public vaccination program against H1N1 will
be mandatory.
As reported
by CNS News last month, a health-care reform bill
approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension
Committee called The Affordable Health Choices Act, will fund
the creation of state “intervention” teams that
will carry out home visits in order to check that both children
and adults have been vaccinated and also provide “provision
of immunizations”.
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