How to Sidestep Hospital Flu Shot Mandates

It's a paradox, but to avoid employer mandates, healthcare workers and their organizing bodies should be pushing to increase voluntary vaccinations among their ranks—with caveats.

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2 comments on "How to Sidestep Hospital Flu Shot Mandates"

Jo Marie Seabrook (2/16/2012 at 4:22 PM)

The author wrote organizations "should take much stronger action to achieve higher voluntary vaccination rates". Hospitals are bending over backwards to get their employees to get vaccinated. We offer free vaccines, offer vaccinations at entrances, by the cafeteria, have champions deliver vaccine to the units and we cannot convince the remaining 50% of our workforce to get the vaccine. No one likes mandates but it may have to come to that.

Douglas Hough (2/15/2012 at 9:36 AM)

Perhaps I am missing something? Shouldn't the needs of the patient come first? If, by declining to get vaccinated, a health professional increases the risk to the patient, why is that acceptable? Let's take an extreme case: Suppose a nurse or physician were "required" to wash her hands before seeing a patient in the ICU, but refused (perhaps because of a concern about her own allergic reaction to the soap). Should the hospital allow her to do so?

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