This story came out last month - but as flu shot season roars into Fall, it's important to note that not every healthcare provider agrees with getting flu shots.  And associations are fighting back.  Just as healthy children are being barred from school, healthy workers are being barred from earning a living - all for a flu vaccine that has an 80% failure rate. It's nonsense.  Do those  masks come in scarlet?

We'd save more lives if there was a hand stamp that glowed if hands had not been washed. I can't tell you how many times my kids docs (pediatricians and now internists) have tried to examine my girls without washing their hands first.

###

The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) has won a second decision on the controversial vaccinate or mask (VOM) policy, striking down the policy in effect at St. Michael’s Hospital and several other hospitals that form the Toronto Academic Health Science Network (TAHSN). These policies force nurses and other health-care workers to wear an unfitted surgical mask for the entirety of their shift if they choose not to receive the influenza vaccine.

After reviewing extensive expert evidence submitted by both ONA and St. Michael’s Hospital, which was the lead case for the TAHSN group, Arbitrator William Kaplan, in his September 6 decision, found that St. Michael’s VOM policy is “illogical and makes no sense” and “is the exact opposite of being reasonable.” In reaching this conclusion, Arbitrator Kaplan rejected the hospital’s evidence. A copy of the full decision is available here.

The TAHSN group involved in the arbitration also includes Sinai Health System, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, North York General Hospital, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Michael Garron Hospital and Baycrest Health Sciences. Other TAHSN hospitals did not have VOM policies in place.  Read more here.