Health-care workers not mandated to get flu vaccines

Kathy Stevens

Nov. 6, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- People still have choice when it comes to vaccinations, and it's no different for the majority of health-care workers at risk of encountering swine flu and spreading it to patients.

That truth is the basis of a statewide push announced earlier this week to inform the "front line in this pandemic" to get vaccinated against swine flu as well as seasonal influenza.

Some health-care facilities mandate as a condition of employment that those with direct contact with patients receive vaccinations -- whether swine flu, seasonal influenza or pneumonia.

But most facilities inoculate on a voluntary basis. The result: About 40 percent of all health care workers statewide receive the vaccines, said Dr. Stephen Ostroff, Pennsylvania's acting physician general.

Ostroff said the state Department of Health has no interest in going forward with a policy that would mandate vaccinations, although he believes all health-care workers should be vaccinated unless they've previously had adverse reactions to vaccine or have allergies to eggs. Chick embryos are used to grow vaccine.

"It bewilders me why a health-care worker wouldn't want to take advantage of (vaccination) because it prevents them from becoming ill, protects their family or loved ones, avoids spreading illness to high-risk patients and it keeps them on the job," Ostroff said. "We encourage every health-care worker to get vaccinated against the flu because we need them on the job and for them not put their patients

at risk."

Locally: That is the message delivered early on in this pandemic at area health care organizations, including Memorial Hospital and WellSpan Health's York and Gettysburg facilities.

Memorial officials had considered mandating vaccination as a condition of employment. But after evaluating national feedback from health organizations, they opted instead to launch an internal informational campaign. Memorial had a 65-percent employee sign-up rate for swine flu vaccination and 71 percent for seasonal flu vaccines.

Infection Control Manager Diana Scheide said that's a good thing.

"We've seen an increase in the number of patients we are treating with flu-like symptoms," she said. "It is important for health-care workers to receive the vaccination so they do not spread flu to patients, can remain healthy and come to work to take care of our patients."

Both Memorial and WellSpan say interest in the seasonal and swine flu vaccines has been high. So far, about 1,200 WellSpan employees have been vaccinated against the new flu, while about 6,000 received the seasonal influenza inoculation, according to spokesman Barry Sparks.

As with other agencies, both organizations are receiving incremental shipments of vaccine in its varying forms. As with public inoculations, the agencies can only dispense specific vaccines to eligible groups.

The FluMist spray, a live virus, may only be given to healthy people age 2 to 49; the injectable form is a dead virus that in general is appropriate for people with underlying health issues such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease.

-- Reach Kathy Stevens at 505-5437 or kstevens@yorkdispatch.com.

Newstex ID: KRTB-1008-39514890