Many health-care workers shun getting flu vaccines

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Every year, top U.S. health officials send out widely publicized reminders to get vaccinated against seasonal flu. And every year, more than 60 percent of the public looks the other way, deciding against the shots either out of fear or lack of interest.

Even more surprising, nearly 50 percent of the nation’s health-care workers also ignore the reminder, often for the same reasons. They think they don’t need it, doubt its efficacy or are convinced the vaccine carries risks of dangerous side effects.

The combination of laxity and resistance is a big concern this season as the U.S. faces a double- barreled blast of seasonal flu and a renewed outbreak of an even more widespread H1N1 swine flu.

H1N1 has spread as a worldwide pandemic since it appeared in the U.S. last April, and it is picking up strength here again. The concern is that with both flus spreading, patients seeking help at hospitals and clinics could overtax health services, and a lot of sick health workers would compound the problem.

Failure of a significant number of health-care workers to take either or both vaccines could pose a danger to their patients if they contract the sickness and help spread it, and also to their own families and friends if they take it home with them, experts warn.

“The last thing we should be doing is putting our patients at risk when it is totally unnecessary,” said Jorge Parada, director of infection control at Loyola University Health System in Maywood. “In a patient-care sort of setting, this is a big, big safety issue.”

This month, Loyola announced it was doing something deemed rather drastic by others in the medical community: The medical center has told all 7,825 of its employees — from doctors to housekeepers — that being vaccinated for seasonal flu is a condition of employment. Get it or leave.

In October, when swine-flu vaccine is expected to be ready for mass distribution, Loyola may also make it mandatory.