HealthImpactNews on Nurses Saying No to Flu Vaccines
From HealthImpactNews:
As 2014 begins to unfold, it is becoming clear that the medical care industry is facing a crisis.
We have already reported about how many doctors are refusing to participate in the new Obamacare health insurance exchanges (See: Seven out of every 10 Physicians in California are Rebelling against Obamacare). But another unintended consequence of new medical care legislation is the refusal of nurses to comply with new mandatory flu vaccination requirements. With a nation-wide shortage in nurses already problematic long before Obamacare was implemented, things are only going to get worse.
Experienced nurses across the United States are choosing to lose their jobs rather than submit to forced mandatory flu vaccinations. This began last flu season, in 2012, and we reported many stories of brave nurses standing up for their rights and refusing to submit to mandatory flu vaccinations as a requirement to keeping their jobs. (See: Brave Nurses Lose Jobs to Stand on Principle and Refuse Forced Vaccinations)
Unfortunately, many of our nation’s best nurses were already lost at the beginning of the 2012-2013 flu season as new mandates in Obamacare kicked in, requiring medical care facilities to have a 90% compliance to the flu vaccine as a requirement to receive full reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid. (See: Are Mandatory Flu Vaccines for Healthcare Workers part of Obamacare and Linked to Financial Reimbursement to Healthcare Facilities?)
The trend towards losing nurses over the mandatory flu vaccine has continued this flu season, in 2013-2014.
The US gov't puts fluoride in our water when Harvard studies show it lowers IQ among other things, all bad. So you should not even need to research studies showing vaccinations the gov't shoves on you are also bad.
Posted by: Vicki Takacs | May 20, 2014 at 04:12 AM
I would add, that the hospital where majority of staff are vaccinated is probably a principal source of local flu epidemic. We should avoid all vaccinated people like evil for they spread viruses around
Posted by: no-vac | January 06, 2014 at 10:17 PM
This Nazi politics of enforced vaccination will result in collapsing the medical system in the US. I advise all doctors and nurses to go on national strike protesting mandatory vaccinations. When mafia-owners of hospitals loose their business, because they loose all medical staff, then they will learn their lesson.
Posted by: no-vac | January 06, 2014 at 10:11 PM
This is a very serious issue of conscience. Often vaccine resisting nurses have religious scruples regarding vaccines. In such cases, the employer has a legal obligation to make reasonable accommodations (perhaps the vaccine-free nurse could wear a surgical mask. But, certainly, the "choice" of the jab or lost job is an unfair choice!
Natural Solutions Foundation support all health care workers of conscience.
See: http://tinyurl.com/VaccineRefuser
http://www.HealthKeepersOath.org
Posted by: Ralph Fucetola JD | January 06, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Hey; maybe that is the reason for the nursing shortage. They sicken all of the nurses so there is always plenty of room for the new nurses.
Posted by: Benedetta | January 06, 2014 at 04:15 PM
Lose it because you won't take the vaccine, or
Lose it because you become too sick to do the work.
Take your pick.
My daughter too the later; Taking the Hep B - and developed unspecified inflammation.
chose the later again with a flu shot and ended up with manias and psychosis.
Chose the later again for DTaP shot, just last year and a summer of being sick - they fired her in the fall.
No winning here.
Posted by: Benedetta | January 06, 2014 at 04:13 PM
I am one of those RN "refusers". It does limit employment. I stay at my current job because it is not mandatory there....yet. Thinking about getting out of nursing...
Posted by: RN mommy | January 06, 2014 at 03:40 PM
I see that Health Impact News is still clinging to the "7 of 10 California doctors" claim even though the multiple errors in Pollock's original article were promptly documented:
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-boycott-20131212,0,1785658.story
Posted by: Godfrey Wyl | January 06, 2014 at 03:10 PM
Interestingly, I talked to my mother lately about getting a flu shot. She is concerned about flu but is also very concerned about Guillauime Barre. Her mother had it after a similar type flu shot. My mother has quite a history of allergies- she cant' seem to put anything on her skin without reacting. I told her to phone a pharmacist about flumist or shots and ask them. She called two and both advised her against getting either version.
Posted by: jen | January 06, 2014 at 02:47 PM
In addition to nurses, hospitals have now joined various credentialing organizations to make sure that anyone who does business with the hospital has to be vaccinated in order to enter the building. This includes: medical sales professionals, contractors, biomedical engineers, food/restaurant employees, attorneys, analysts, accountants...and the list goes on. This "vendor credentialing" service was founded by a pharmaceutical rep who thought it would be wise practice for the hospitals to know who visits their facilities. In addition to requiring full vaccines/proof of vaccines including annual flu shots, vendors are required to provide drivers license, SS#, DOB, address, criminal background checks, drug screens, etc. There is more personal information in the vendor credentialing databanks than the department of transportation. The vendors pay an annual fee to visit their hospitals, including large costs associated with the amount of classes required and credentialing, costing the companies who do business with hospitals to be very invested in this new policy. If you are a patient, it sounds like a good idea, but what about all of the thousands of visitors who enter the building who could be carrying who knows what? This vendor credentialing policy is aimed at having healthcare companies and vendors who do business with hospitals "pay to play."
Posted by: nadanurse | January 06, 2014 at 01:57 PM
Looks like the nurse shortage will get worse for quite a while now.
I am still waiting to see a doctor shooting up their child or 6 month old grandchild with a mercury flu shot on youtube...
One would think this would be quite common and easy to locate.
Posted by: cmo | January 06, 2014 at 01:49 PM
Thrilled to see these nurses refusing to jeopardize their health (and that of their patients via shedding of the live-virus flu vaccine) by refusing to submit to flu vaccine mandates from their hospitals...amen to that! However, I have to wonder if some of these same nurses are militant mandate enforcers when it comes to parents wanting to refuse vaccines for their children. I certainly hope not. I am glad to see these nurses taking a stand for their health and their rights, and I hope such stands by nurses, parents, and others will soon force a ban on all vaccine mandates in our country, including for those in the military.
These insane and unconstitutional vaccine mandates are negatively impacting all of us in too many ways to count. With regard to nurses, we are losing some already in the profession, and we are losing those who wanted to be nurses but who have chosen not to pursue that line of work due to vaccine requirements (wonderful people like my daughter who would have been a most excellent nurse).
So, bravo to these nurses! I hope news of their vaccine refusals will spread, and I hope that they will now also speak out on behalf of parents who do not want to vaccinate their children, and on behalf of our military personnel who have no exemptions available to them whatsoever.
I continue to pray for a complete BAN on all vaccine mandates in our country. Please join me!
Posted by: Laura Hayes | January 06, 2014 at 11:42 AM
There is a petition on Change.org that everyone should sign:
http://www.change.org/petitions/u-s-senate-and-u-s-house-of-representatives-stop-mandatory-flu-vaccines-of-healthcare-professionals?share_id=ypmxmXLILr&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition
We need lots and lots of people to sign this petition.
Posted by: Not an MD | January 06, 2014 at 07:33 AM
Nurses, there's nothing like a good face-off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VulhBXNa-Ic
Posted by: Mary W Maxwell, PhD, LLB | January 06, 2014 at 05:46 AM