Re: NJ & OSHA Reject Flu Shot Mandates for Healthcare Workers

[Guest guest]

The OSHA position is great, if overshadowed by other agency views (it didn't

change the NVAC's final recommendation), but the NJ veto is a hollow victory.

Hospitals around the country have been requiring flu (and increasingly, other)

vaccines as a matter of company policy. In fact, the NC State Hlth Dir told me a

while back that they prefer businesses to mandate vaccines so that they don't

have to. I'm a Christie fan--I wrote him a while back to thank him for his

attention to vaccine concerns (and actually got a response!), but this veto

doesn't stem the pro-vax tide at all. We should not let it lull us into a false

sense of security. What would be a great victory would be enactment of a law

that provides for an exemption for healthcare workers, regardless of who is

requiring the vaccine. I'm here to assist with any legislative initiatives.

Alan , JD

www.vaccinerights.com

>

> SPREAD THE WORD so people know of the exemptions!

> share everywhere

> Sheri

>

>

http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/January-2012/NVIC-Defends-Vaccine-Exemptio\

ns.aspx#OSHA

> NJ & OSHA Reject Flu Shot Mandates for Healthcare Workers

>

> New Jersey's Governor Christie pocket vetoed a bill that would

> mandate flu vaccine for health care workers. The governor used the

> pocket veto, which is the only way to veto a bill without returning

> it to the legislature for a possible vote to override the veto.

> Thanks to Rita Marie who posted this information on NVIC's

> <http://www.facebook.com/national.vaccine.information.center>FaceBook

> wall. You can thank Governor Christie for his decisive action and NOT

> SIGNING this bill at or .

>

> OSHA Says " No " to Flu Shot Mandates Without Exemptions

>

> The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a

> statement opposing mandatory flu shots for health care workers that

> do not contain exemptions for medical, religious and

> persona/philosophical belief reasons. OSHA stated:

>

> " While we are supportive of the Healthy People 2020 goal of a

> 90% vaccination rate, we have seen no evidence that demonstrates that

> such a high rate is in fact necessary. Furthermore, the current

> influenza vaccine is no magic bullet. The current state of influenza

> vaccine technology requires annual reformulation and revaccination

> and the efficacy is quite variable. Every year there are numerous

> circulating strains of influenza that are not included in the

> vaccine. In years where the antigenic match is good, the vaccine only

> provides protection against the 3 strains in the formulation. In

> years when the antigenic match is poor, the vaccine may provide no

> protection at all. The limits of current influenza vaccine technology

> are especially problematic in the context of a mandatory influenza

> vaccination program that results in job loss. Lastly, reliance on a

> mandatory influenza vaccination policy may provide healthcare

> workers, health care facility management and patients with an

> unwarranted sense of security and result in poor adherence to other

> infection control practices that prevent all types of infections, not

> just influenza. Influenza vaccination has always been just one part

> of a comprehensive multi-layered infection control program. "

>

> OSHA's complete position statement was submitted to the National

> Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) last September and appears in the

> NVAC's certified minutes as Appendix B on page 25

>

<http://www.nvic.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?nodeguid=da4b451c-b83e-4eb4-9b64-5c21\

0aad1ec3>here.

>