Post 8: Vaccines & Work
As fall comes to an end (almost) people are finishing up getting their annual flu shots. I got mine back in September, but a friend of mine who works in a hospital just got hers. She was telling me about her experience and about how she had to get proof of vaccination for her employer. This sparked a thought in my head, do all employers have the ability to require their employees to get vaccinated?
I came across an interesting NPR podcast and article about this exact debate. It talks about a measles outbreak that occurred at Disney land. They required staff to be cleared before returning and paid for the vaccination of the employees who had not already been vaccinated. This is a small case of a company doing but is it that simple to implement required vaccinations and is it even legal?
In the podcast April Dembosky talks about the complexity of requiring vaccinations in the work place. Of course for health field settings it makes complete sense to require the vaccination and immunization verification. But is it legal to force teacher to get immunizations? Through the American Disabilities Association people are protected from most employers asking about medical history. It also can be expensive to require employees to get vaccinations, especially since the flu shot is annual. I think each business would have to decide if the financial cost would be worth the benefit of having their employees vaccinated.
The final argument brought to the table was explained through and employee who was vegan, but her employer wanted her to get the flu shot- which may contain eggs. She brought this case to court and it was ruled that she should not have to get vaccinated because of her diet.
There are a lot of things to think about before making a final ruling on it. Of course for our major it is apparent that we will have to get vaccinated, especially if we work in a clinical setting. It is interesting to see science play out in different work forces.
Hope everyone has a happy and healthy "flu season"!
Grace
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/02/10/385138804/can-employers-require-workers-to-be-vaccinated-it-depends
Dembosky, A. (2015, February 10). Can Employers Require Workers To Be Vaccinated? It Depends. Retrieved November 06, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/02/10/385138804/can-employers-require-workers-to-be-vaccinated-it-depends
I came across an interesting NPR podcast and article about this exact debate. It talks about a measles outbreak that occurred at Disney land. They required staff to be cleared before returning and paid for the vaccination of the employees who had not already been vaccinated. This is a small case of a company doing but is it that simple to implement required vaccinations and is it even legal?
In the podcast April Dembosky talks about the complexity of requiring vaccinations in the work place. Of course for health field settings it makes complete sense to require the vaccination and immunization verification. But is it legal to force teacher to get immunizations? Through the American Disabilities Association people are protected from most employers asking about medical history. It also can be expensive to require employees to get vaccinations, especially since the flu shot is annual. I think each business would have to decide if the financial cost would be worth the benefit of having their employees vaccinated.
The final argument brought to the table was explained through and employee who was vegan, but her employer wanted her to get the flu shot- which may contain eggs. She brought this case to court and it was ruled that she should not have to get vaccinated because of her diet.
There are a lot of things to think about before making a final ruling on it. Of course for our major it is apparent that we will have to get vaccinated, especially if we work in a clinical setting. It is interesting to see science play out in different work forces.
Hope everyone has a happy and healthy "flu season"!
Grace
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/02/10/385138804/can-employers-require-workers-to-be-vaccinated-it-depends
Dembosky, A. (2015, February 10). Can Employers Require Workers To Be Vaccinated? It Depends. Retrieved November 06, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/02/10/385138804/can-employers-require-workers-to-be-vaccinated-it-depends
Interesting idea! I didn't know that there were employers that made you get vaccinations. I am very pro-vaccine but that seems a little draconian; however, my company offers free flu shots on site but they are not mandatory though most take advantage of it. I think the that line might be that I work in an office setting and do not interact with the people I serve, whereas in hospitals and large theme parks. there is a greater chance of interacting with large amounts of people is more prevalent. Not to mention that they might already be sick or children that cannot get vaccines yet.
ReplyDeleteThe hospital I work in requires all employees and associated personnel who work in a "patient care area" to get a flu vaccine either in-house or at their PCP's office. For those who do not have patient contact, they can either decline or attest that they received their vaccination elsewhere. I am also very pro-vaccine but it is certainly food for thought when deciding how far does an employer go to ensure all employees are vaccinated?
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