Should flu jabs be compulsory for nurses working with the vulnerable?

[jake-the-peg]

Last year 2/3 of Nurses in London had not had the swine flu jab

http://news.bbc.co.uk...nd/london/8471304.stm

[Sqad]

237SJ ;-) I am now signing off to go to my Health Club where there will be a few, toned females in one piece tight bathing costumes waiting for the chance of maybe a nod or even a word from me.
See you later.

[237SJ]

I hope you don`t get too worked up! I`m off to the sales. It`s a dirty job but somebody`s got to do it. Bye

[jake-the-peg]

Yes sorry Boxtops I was using Nurses as a generalisation for all health workers.

I'm not advocating it for their benefits but for the benfit of patients who are vulnerable.

If you work on a ward full of vulnerable people and catch flu you'll probably get over it in a few days - if you pass it around the ward many of them may not.

And Sqad I think you're being rather disingenuous in saying that having the vaccine won't stop them from passing it on. Disingenuous bordering on the wrong I think.

If you're infected with a virus that you've been innoculated against you will still carry the virus in your body until the anti-bodies have killed the virus but the length of time that you'll be able to pass it on will be vastly reduced - perhaps bordering on the negligable.

If you've evidence to the contrary I'd love to see it.

I agree that forced innoculation is generally wrong however limiting it to health workers and introducing it as part of terms and conditions when working with vulnerable groups seems reasonable enough.

Actually I wonder if I had a child in hospital on immuno-suppressant drugs who caught flu from a nurse and died if I'd have grounds for a lawsuit - possibly even a crimanal lawsuit

[Sqad]

Jake the peg.

http://www.education....h1n1-carrier-exposed/

The vaccinated person can become a carrier.



<<<If you're infected with a virus that you've been innoculated against you will still carry the virus in your body until the anti-bodies have killed the virus but the length of time that you'll be able to pass it on will be vastly reduced - perhaps bordering on the negligable. <<<

" bordering on the negligable?

[LazyGun]

@Madmaggot - "Well, he got hepatitus from it. Was very ill for months and is still not totally well.".
Who confirmed that your relative has actually contracted Hepatitis , and. more importantly how have they confirmed that the alleged Hepatits was contracted from the vaccine? I can think of no way that the hepatitis vaccines could cause Hepatitis so this would be startling news, if true.I think someone has misunderstood what has happened here.
@Boxtops - "Some of us have to have HepB vaccine too - I can't, I'm HepB antibody resistant."
Sorry Boxtops, but this statement makes no sense to me at all - could you elaborate a little?

In general, front line workers should, at the very least, be strongly encouraged to have vaccines with a proven safety record - for the sake of their patients.It is already compulsory ( if memory serves) for NHS laboratory staff to be vaccinated for Hepatitis B, and I see no reason why such compulsion could not be extended to front line medical staff for seasonal flu vaccines.

Some commentators suggested that the safety of the H1N1 vaccines administered in 2009-2010 was suspect and became the subject of much speculation and hyperbole, with many references to the potential for serious neurological complications, particularly Guilame- Barre Syndrome. The CDC recently reviewed the safety data derived from the VAERS programme. Of 82 million injections, there were just 700 reactions classified as "serious" ( ie more than just a sore arm), and of these, just 100 incidents of GBS were linked to the vaccine, ie around 1 in a million or so. This is no different to the incidence of GBS in the general population.
Influenza is highly contagious and is a recognised killer of certain vulnerable groups within society, many of whom will form a large proportion of any hospital patient population.It is a responsibility of health workers to minimise their own potential for being a

[boxtops]

LazyGun, when I have been given HepB vaccine I don't respond, I was told that this because my body doesn't make/keep the antibodies to fight HepB. I couldn't therefore take bloods if this were part of my role - all our HCAs have to have received a HepB jab before they can undertake phlebotomy.

[LazyGun]

Last post edited by AB.
The last sentence should have read as ".It is a responsibility of health workers to minimise their own potential for being a vector for serious disease."

@Boxtops - Ahh ok, thanks for the clarification. Some people can indeed have a low or absent ability to respond to the immune stimulus, and a hypo- or absent response is most likely genetic.