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Should hospital and school employees be required to get vaccinated against influenza?
school and hospitals aren't the only place people travel to where they can be exposed.
They can only spread it to others who choose NOT to be vaccinated... they can choose to get vaccinated.
the annual vaccinations have proven that they don't prevent contracting the flu.
In contrast, hospital patients and schoolchildren have little or no choice about being exposed to the employees in those facilities.
That's false, and contradicted by your subsequent statement below. Some people are ineligible for vaccination, due to other problems, so they have no choice.
Vaccination reduces significantly the risk of getting infected and spreading infection. Vaccines work especially well at creating "community immunity," preventing the virus from spreading through a population, e.g. a school. That is why vaccination is the most effective method to prevent influenza.
curious2 saysThat's false, and contradicted by your subsequent statement below. Some people are ineligible for vaccination, due to other problems, so they have no choice.
Like what.
curious2 saysIn contrast, hospital patients and schoolchildren have little or no choice about being exposed to the employees in those facilities.
So, like I said above, if they want to travel there, it's on THEM to get a flu shot, NOT the people working inside the buildings.
Why do you guys always insist the government needs to protect people from themselves????
Really??? Like LAST year?
American hospitals are notorious for nosocomial infections, which kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. "According to data from the California Department of Public Health, flu vaccination rates among health care staffers at the state’s acute care hospitals range from a low of 37 percent to 100 percent." Acute care hospital patients tend not to have much choice about whether to go to a hospital, nor even which hospital.
Children are generally required to attend school, and to get vaccinated, but the vaccine is not 100% effective, and some children are medically ineligible for it. "Influenza can spread among students, teachers, and staff in school settings. Vaccination is the most effective method to prevent influenza." PatNet has a user who claims to teach math in public school, and refuses to get vaccinated against influenza. Marcus insists emotionally that (s)he would know if (s)he had flu, and could skip school on such days. CDC guidance says the opposite: "That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick. Some people can be infected with the flu virus but have no symptoms. During this time, those people may still spread the virus to others." As usual, when marcus insists emotionally on something, (s)he ignores all evidence.
Ordinarily, I would not want people to be coerced into getting a vaccine. Hospital and school employees raise a special case, however: they are paid by the state to interact with vulnerable populations, who have little or no choice but to be exposed to them. So, should hospital and school employees be required to get vaccinated?