Posted by Amid a chorus of protests from nurses, a state Health Department official Tuesday defended the state’s decision to mandate flu vaccines for health care workers because too few had voluntarily gotten the shot in the past.
Dr. Guthrie Birkhead, deputy commissioner in the state Department of Health, told the heads of four Assembly committees at a packed Assembly hearing room in Manhattan that the discussion to make flu vaccine mandatory has been going on for the last two years – well before the outbreak of swine flu.
Birkhead said in the past only about 30 percent of health care workers got the seasonal flu vaccine, compared with 80 to 90 percent of hospital patients. “This was year after year after year,” he said.
In August, using emergency powers, the state health commissioner said all health care workers must get both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines to protect patients.
But nurses at the hearing complained they were kept out of the state’s decision-making process, their civil rights had been violated and the state was ignoring other safety precautions – such as better masks – that could cut flu transmission.
Colleen Heinze, a labor and delivery nurse at Stony Brook University Medical Center, said she represents about 100 nurses at the hospital worried about possible vaccine side effects, especially in the new H1N1 vaccine, which she said had been less well studied.
“This is not something we take lightly,” she told the four Democratic Assembly leaders: Richard Gottfried of Manhattan, chair of the health committee; Catherine Nolan of Queens, chair of the education committee; Deborah Glick of Manhattan, chair of the higher education committee; and Rory Lancman of Queens, who heads the subcommittee on workplace safety. “We feel our rights have been violated.”
Doris Dodson, also a nurse at Stony Brook and chair of the Public Employees Federation Statewide Nurses Committee, said the union, which represents about 15,000 health care workers, has called on the state to adopt Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations that health care workers use N-95 masks, which fit more closely around the mouth and are more protective than surgical masks.
The state Health Department has said surgical masks are adequate. Birkhead said the CDC is reviewing the mask issue.
Gottfried, whose health committee has purview over the health department, said he supports the health department’s mandate. But he said it should have included health care workers in the decision-making.
“It’s always better if you talk to the affected people,” he told 150 or so at the hearing.
Lancman said he was not sure a mandate was called for.
“I want to be satisfied the state has analyzed and made a decision based on the science and not on the health commissioner’s intuition and gut instinct,” he said.
Source: Newsday
“In August, using emergency powers, the state health commissioner said
all health care workers must get both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines to
protect patients.”
“I want to be satisfied the state has analyzed and made a decision
based on the science and not on the health commissioner’s intuition and
gut instinct,” he said.”
First what exactly is the “emergency”? Especially since they say they
have been talking about this for two years?
And yes, where is that science?
This is an emergency to protect patients?
The Cochrane Collaboration is a group of over 10,000 volunteers in more
than 90 countries who review the effects of health care interventions
tested in biomedical randomized controlled trials.[3] A few more recent
reviews have also studied the results of non-randomized, observational
studies. The results of these systematic reviews are published as ”
Cochrane Reviews” in the Cochrane Library.
It is an international not-for-profit and independent organization ( is
not funded by Drug companies, etc )
The goal of the collaboration is to help people make well informed
decisions about health care by preparing, maintaining and ensuring the
accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of health care
interventions.
It is a very well respected and non biased organazation.
So What do they say about the benefits and harms of several
interventions for preventing and treating influenza?
http://www.cochrane.org/influenza/reviews.html
Let me sum up two of the reports.
“Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults ”
Plain language summary
There is not enough evidence to decide whether routine vaccination to
prevent influenza in healthy adults is effective Influenza is a virus
which causes symptoms of fever, headache, aches and pains, cough and
runny noses. It can last for weeks and lead to serious illness, even
death. It spreads easily and new strains develop regularly. The World
Health Organization recommends each year which strains should be
included in vaccinations for the forthcoming season. The review of
trials found vaccinations against influenza avoided 80% of cases at
best (in those confirmed by laboratory tests, and using vaccines
directed against circulating strains), but only 50% when the vaccine
did not match, and 30% against influenza-like illness, in healthy
adults. It did not change the number of people needing to go to
hospital or take time off work.
“Influenza vaccination for health care workers who work with the
elderly ”
There is no credible evidence that vaccination of healthy people under
the age of 60, who are HCWs caring for the elderly, affects influenza
complications in those cared for.
Plain language summary
Influenza vaccination for health care workers who work with the elderly
There is evidence that vaccinating the elderly has a modest impact on
the complications from influenza. There is also high quality evidence
that vaccinating healthy adults under 60 (which includes healthcare
workers) reduces cases of influenza. Both the elderly in institutions
and the healthcare workers who care for them could be vaccinated for
their own protection, but an incremental benefit of vaccinating
healthcare workers for the benefit of the elderly cannot be proven
without better studies.
Mr Lancman is asking for a decision based on the science
and it is very clear that there is NO clear clear science on this!