New York H1N1 Swine Flu Protest (Medical Staff Refuse To Take The Shot )

Health workers being forced to take flu shots this year
Washington Times….article is 3 pages in length so please click on the link for the entire article.
Health care institutions, concerned that less than half their workers got flu shots in previous years, are moving for the first time to make the shots mandatory in the face of an expected swine flu pandemic.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures for the 2007-08 flu season, the most recent available, show that just 45.4 percent of U.S. health care workers ages 19 to 64 were immunized against seasonal flu that year. Three British surveys released in recent weeks suggest the same pattern with the novel H1N1 virus, commonly known as the “swine flu” virus.
But Dr. Tom Talbot, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said “there has been a big wave this year” of mandatory vaccination rules, ranging from small doctors’ offices to large medical care and hospital systems.

“A lot of people are leaning [toward mandatory vaccinations], pointing to it as a safety issue, akin to a surgeon refusing to do a scrub before surgery,” he said.

“I think H1N1 has prompted it,” he said, adding that rules for seasonal flu are in place and likely will be for H1N1 when the vaccine becomes available. He said that voluntary systems need resources to exhort workers into complying, making a mandatory policy cheaper and quicker.
The New York State Health Department, in what is thought to be the first statewide ruling of its kind, now requires all hospital, hospice and home health care workers to get both a seasonal and H1N1 flu shot. Those who defy the requirement without a religious or medical reason put their jobs at risk.
Policies for H1N1 are generally still being formulated, spokesmen at several hospitals, health care systems and professional groups nationwide told The Washington Times.

“Our policy is to strongly urge all [registered nurses] directly involved in patient care to get seasonal protection annually. We are taking a look at the situation regarding novel H1N1,” said Mary McNamara of the American Nurses Association.

But with seasonal flu, policies are already in full force. As of Aug. 27, the 26,000 personnel in the Washington-Baltimore region MedStar Health system must get seasonal flu shots. For the first time, failure to comply without a documented reason is grounds for dismissal.
~snipte~

“A handful” of people who chose not to get a shot in the first season were dismissed, she said.

“You can get a religious or medical accommodation, say if you have a proven allergy [to eggs, the basis of the vaccine], but you still have to abide by our infection control policy,” she said, meaning that such a worker would “have to wear a mask during all of flu season everywhere in the medical center except in the cafeteria while you are eating. It’s really important for patient safety.”

Check this out:
CBS 60 Min – 1976 Swine Flu Vaccination Fraud- Aired Nov 1979

PART TWO

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There is also this article at NewsDay
Mandatory flu vaccination splits workers
Despite a planned rally in Albany Tuesday to protest a state regulation requiring health care workers be vaccinated against influenza — both seasonal and swine flu — New York’s top public health official predicts dissenters will ultimately extinguish their anger and roll up their sleeves.
The regulation, which was approved in August, comes with a stinging addendum: Get vaccinated or get fired.
But some nurses and many other health care providers say the regulation violates their personal freedom and leaves them vulnerable to vaccine injury. And they cite deaths associated with the last federal government swine-flu vaccination program in 1976.
Refusing to be immunized against H1N1 because of the vaccine debacle in 1976 “is like saying a plane crashed 33 years ago so I’ll never fly again,” said Dr. Richard Daines, New York State health commissioner.
New York is the only state in the nation to require that health care workers be vaccinated, though other states are considering such measures. Health workers, including doctors, must be immunized by Nov. 30. Opponents say it’s simply unnecessary.
Several registered nurses said they will neither contract nor transmit the flu because they’re constantly washing their hands.
While dozens of demonstrators are expected at the rally from throughout the state, many are from Stony Brook University Medical Center. A meeting was held last week for hospital staff on the importance of vaccination for health care workers; a special session was held for employees in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, because many nurses there had expressed concern about the vaccination plan.

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strong>Wild Thing’s comment…….
Shep Smith is such a jerk. wow
The health care workers were protesting this in Albany yesterday. There was talk that if they refuse the shot they will lose their job.