The number is so high: Almost 60 percent of health-care workers don't get flu shots.
There's a fascinating story in the Washington Post that talks to such workers about their reasons for not getting the shots. Some discuss their worries
about the shots themselves making them sick. Others believe they have a natural immunity (though even a person who doesn't feel sick can be contagious with the flu virus). Others cited reasons of inconvenience. Still others believed that the shots are not effective enough, due to the fact that the flu virus changed every year and each year's vaccine may not take care of all the viruses out there.
When I first saw the statistic of how many workers don't get shots, I thought well, they must know something we don't know. However, it turns out that health care workers are just like the population at large -- we don't know, or we're not sure, or we're just plain too busy.
The scary thing about health care workers not being vaccinated is the number of patients they come in contact with during their work. One thing the article discusses is whether providers who receive Medicare funding could be required to publicly report their employee vaccination rates.
Here's the story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/21/AR2008112103077.html
What do you think? Do you think it should be mandatory for health care workers to get flu shots? In effect, do you think a health care worker should lose their right to choose whether they get a shot because they work in doctors' offices or hospitals?