NVIC Vaccine News

Forcing Flu Shots on Health Care Workers: Who Is Next?

By Barbara Loe Fisher
Published September 29, 2010 in Government


Doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are ordering all employees to get a flu shot every year or be sent home for two weeks without pay to “think about it.” Anyone, who still refuses to get a flu shot after that, is fired.1

60 percent of all U.S. health care professionals don’t want to get an annual flu shot,2 which matches the number of Americans, who choose not to get a flu shot, even in pandemic years.3, 4 Surveys reveal that health care providers know that influenza vaccine can cause nasty, unexpected side effects for some people, like paralysis5 and convulsions.6

Not Just Doctors & Nurses: Everyone

But that has not stopped medical organizations from launching a national crusade to force everyone employed in a “healthcare setting” to get a flu shot every year, whether they have direct contact with patients or not.7, 8 That’s right. Not just doctors and nurses, but every single person who has anything to do with the health care facility, including students, volunteers, and contract workers. An exception could be made if the doctors in charge approve a “medical exemption” to vaccination, which, today, is about as hard to get as a job.

It is not a pretty sight to watch doctors acting more like thugs than healers. When doctors threaten people with financial ruin for refusing to shut up and salute smartly, there is something wrong.

Trust is replaced with fear and anger. People start asking questions. Questions like: Who will be threatened and punished next for refusing a flu shot?

The answer is YOU, me, and every American. We are next in line because when doctors trade in their white coats for military uniforms, going after their own is just the first step on the road to going after the rest of us. If this latest power grab is allowed to set precedent in America, the only question in the future will be: how many vaccines will we be forced to take or lose our jobs, our health insurance, our right to enter a hospital, or receive medical care, or get on a plane, or check into a hotel if we can’t prove we have gotten vaccinated?

1905 U.S. Supreme Court Sets Up Vaccine Pushing & Profit-Making

Vaccine mandates are nothing new in America. After smallpox outbreaks disfigured or killed up to one third of those infected during the 17th and 18th centuries, in 1905 the U.S. Supreme Court gave permission to states to pass laws requiring smallpox vaccination.9 Since then, that precedent setting Supreme Court case, Jacobson v Massachusetts, has become a kind of holy scripture for public health officials, who have used it to persuade state legislators to pass a whole slew of new vaccine laws barring children from going to school unless they prove they have been injected with dozens of doses of vaccines for infectious diseases that do not come close to being as deadly or contagious as smallpox.10

So, even though the 1905 Supreme Court legal opinion was about Americans getting one or two smallpox vaccinations, since then it has been used by doctors to wage an evangelistic crusade to smack down all microorganisms associated with infectious disease by calling on 300 million Americans to be injected with multiple vaccines from day of birth to year of death.11, 12 This, of course, has created a lucrative boondoggle for pharmaceutical corporations seeking a guaranteed, liability-free market for every new vaccine licensed and sold in America, the third largest nation in the world, which helps these companies finance and develop huge global markets as well.13 , 14 In 2009 alone, multi-national corporations took home profits of $2.8 billion dollars in influenza vaccine sales.15

What most people don’t realize is that those long dead US Supreme Court judges used a pseudo ethic, utilitarianism, to justify their legal opinion that vaccination should be forced in America. Utilitarianism, which argues that an action is moral if it results in the “greatest good for the greatest number of people,” was quite popular at the turn of the 20th century.16

The cruel reality of what can happen to individuals when utilitarianism is used to prop up public health policy was brought home in 1927, when US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes used the Jacobson vs. Massachusetts decision to facilitate the forced sterilization of a young woman.17  At the age of seven months, Carrie Buck was judged to be mentally retarded like her mother. So Holmes gave the green light to the state of Virginia to employ a eugenics solution advocated by medical doctors and scientists and sterilize Carrie for the greater good of society.18 

Justice Holmes said flatly and prophetically, “The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the fallopian tubes.”  

It is no surprise that Hitler and the Nazis were big fans of Oliver Wendall Holmes.19 By the way, it turned out that Carrie was not mentally retarded after all.

Crimes Against Humanity & The Informed Consent Ethic

Utilitarianism, like eugenics, was discredited during the Doctor’s Trial at Nuremberg after World War II when medical doctors and scientists, who were charged with crimes against humanity, used the utilitarian rationale to justify medical experiments on captive human subjects.20The Doctor’s Trial in 1946 gave birth to the Nuremberg Code and the ethical principle of informed consent, which has been the guiding principle in the ethical practice of modern medicine since then.21 Respect for the informed consent principle protects ordinary people from exploitation by wealthy and powerful individuals, corporations and institutions in society, who are in charge of defining “the greater good” and can easily invoke that utilitarian argument to commit civil and human rights abuses.

Take Doctors & Scientists Off the Pedestal

Now, we come full circle to 2010, as we witness doctors in positions of authority threatening people with loss of employment and financial ruin if they refuse to get injected every year with influenza vaccine, a vaccine that carries two risks: the risk of injury or death and the risk of not working at all.

Why are we letting fellow citizens with M.D. or Ph.D. written after their names to tell us what kinds of risks to take with our lives or the lives of our children? Why do we continue to put doctors and scientists on a pedestal in America and fail to put boundaries on the power they too often wield with callous disregard for the informed consent ethic, civil liberties and individual human life?

Influenza Vaccine: You Have the Right to Weigh the Benefits & Risks

Whether or not you are a health care provider, the decision about whether or not to get a flu shot every year is a personal health choice that should be yours to make after you become informed and weigh the benefits and risks. Educated health care professionals and consumers alike are perfectly capable of analyzing the facts about influenza and influenza vaccine, including the fact that:

  1. 80 percent of all flu-like illness reported during the “flu season” is NOT caused by influenza but by other viruses and bacteria;22
  2. Only 5 to 20 percent of Americans get type A or type B influenza in an average year and the majority recover without any complications and are left with immunity to the strains they were infected with, which contributes to natural herd immunity in our population;23, 24
  3. Like most infectious diseases, influenza can be prevented or reduced in home and health care settings with hand washing, masking and separating sick and healthy persons;25, 26
  4. Influenza viruses are constantly evolving so, depending upon the year, the flu shot may or may not contain the influenza strains associated with most reported influenza cases;27
  5. The majority of published influenza studies are so poorly designed, they have not demonstrated that influenza vaccine is effective or safe;28, 29
  6. Influenza vaccines containing the pandemic H1N1 “swine flu” strain have generated increased reports of paralysis, blood disorders and convulsions;30, 31
  7. There are no clinical studies to evaluate the long term positive or negative health effects on human populations of being injected with influenza vaccine every year throughout life; and
  8. Nobody knows whether mass use of influenza vaccine from the cradle to the grave by all Americans will put pressure on influenza strains to become more virulent like has happened with other microorganisms and universally used vaccines.32, 33

Intimidation & Retaliation to Force Vaccination Is Unethical

It is unscientific, irresponsible and a gross waste of health care dollars, especially in these hard economic times, for doctors and scientists in positions of authority to conduct an uncontrolled national medical experiment on the American people by threatening societal sanctions for those who refuse to get a flu shot every year. Firing health care workers, already hit by unemployment, for simply exercising their human right to informed consent to medical risk taking, is unnecessary and unethical.

The National Vaccine Information Center, which has defended the informed consent ethic in medicine since 1982, joins with other responsible organizations and enlightened individuals, who oppose use of intimidation and retaliation to force all health care professionals to use influenza vaccine.34, 35 NVIC continues to call for informed consent protections in all vaccine policies and laws in America, including liberal medical, religious and conscientious belief exemptions to vaccination.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

A British historian, who died three years before the 1905 US Supreme Court justices issued their flawed legal opinion about mandatory vaccination, got it right when he said, “Power corrupts [and] absolute power corrupts absolutely.” 36 History has shown that medical doctors and scientists do not know how to wield power without leaving a trail human suffering behind them.

It is time for Americans to stand up and draw a line in the sand for doctors, who fail to appreciate the difference between offering a medical opinion and giving an order that punishes people for disagreeing with that opinion.

Learn More & Stand Up For Your Informed Consent Rights

Go to www.NVIC.org for more information on diseases and vaccines. Sign up for our Vaccine E-newsletter and watch for the announcement of NVIC’s Vaccine Advocacy Portal that will give you the tools you need to stand up in your state and protect your human right to informed consent to vaccination.

Remember, it’s your health, your family and your choice.

References:


1 Offit, P. 2010. Mandating Influenza Vaccine: One Hospital’s Experience. Medscape.

2 King WD. Woolhandler SJ et al. 2006. Influenza Vaccination and Health Care Workers in the U.S. Journal of General Internal Medicine.

3 Centers for Disease Control. 2008. State-Specific Influenza Vaccine Coverage Among Adults – US, 2006-07 Influenza Season. MMWR.

4 Centers for Disease Control. 2010. Interim Results: State Specific Influenza A(H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine Coverage – U.S. Oct. 2009 – Jan. 2010. MMWR.

5 Haber P, DeStefano F et al. 2004. Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccination. Journal of the American Medical Association.

6 Corderoy A. Sept. 19, 2010. Side effects worse than the disease. The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia).

7 Infectious Diseases Society of America and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. Aug. 31, 2010. Press Release: Nation’s Leading Infectious Disease Experts Call for Mandatory Flu Vaccine for All Healthcare Personnel: Vaccines Should be Required for Continued Employment for Healthcare Personnel, Epidemiologists and Infectious Disease Physicians Say.

8 Neale T. Sept. 8, 2010. Flu Vaccine a Must for All Healthcare Workers, AAP says. Medpage Today.

9 Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11(1905. LSU Law Center.

10 CNN. Nov. 15, 2007. Vaccinations or Jail: County’s Threat to Parents.  

11 Centers for Disease Control. 2010 Child & Adolescent Immunization Schedules.  

12 Centers for Disease Control. Adult Immunization Schedule - 2010.  

13 HealthCare Finance News. 2010. Global vaccine market now exceeds $20B.

14 Glorikan H. 2009. Influenza Scare Not the Only Vaccine Driver.    Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.

15 Kresse H, Rovini H. 2009. Influenza Vaccine Market Dynamics. Nature Reviews.

16 Mautner, T. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy. and Utilitarianism. The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy.

17 Supreme Court Upholds Sterilization of the Mentally Retarded – Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200, 475 Ct. 584, 71L, Ed. 1000 (1927). LSU Law Center.

18 Encyclopedia of Virginia. Buck v. Bell (1927).

19 Black E. Nov. 24, 2003. The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics. History News Network (George Mason University).

20 Seidelman WE. 1996. Nuremberg lamentation: for the forgotten victims of medical science.British Medical Journal.

21 Katz J. The Consent Principle of the Nuremberg Code: It’s Significance Then and Now. The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 227-239.

22 FDA. Feb. 20, 2003. Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory CommitteeMeeting Transcript.

23  Centers for Disease Control. Seasonal Influenza

24 Simonsen L., Clarke MJ et al. 1998. Pandemic versus Epidemic Influenza Mortality: A Pattern of Changing Age Distribution. Journal of Infectious Diseases.

25 Enstone J. 2010. Influenza transmission and related infection control issues. Introduction to Pandemic Influenza (pp. 57-72). CABI

26 Aledort TE, Lurie N et al. 2007. Non-pharmaceutical public health interventions for pandemic influenza: an evaluation of the evidence base. BMC Public Health

27 Fisher BL. 2004. Flu Vaccine: Missing the Mark. The Vaccine Reaction (National Vaccine Information Center).

28 Jefferson T. 2006. Influenza vaccination: policy versus evidence. British Medical Journal.

29 Jefferson T., Debalini MG et al. 2009. Relation of study quality, concordance, take home message, funding, and impact in studies of influenza vaccines; systematic review. British Medical Journal.

30 National Vaccine Information Center. 2010. Press Release: NVIC Calls for Expanded Monitoring of Pandemic H1N1 Vaccine Reactions.

31 Collignon P, Doshi P, Jefferson T. 2010. Adverse Events Following Influenza Vaccination in Australia – Should We Be Surprised? British Medical Journal

32 Associated Press. Sept. 17, 2007. Shot may be inadvertently boosting superbugs. MSNBC.

33 Fisher BL. July 8, 2010. Whooping Cough Outbreaks and Vaccine Failures. NVIC.

34 ACLU. 2009. NYCLU Urges Public Education and Voluntary Vaccine for H1N1 Flu, Warns Vaccine Mandate Violates Privacy Rights. Testimony by Donna Lieberman.

35 Sullivan PL. 2010. Influenza Vaccination in HealthCare Workers: Should It Be Mandatory? Journal of Issues in Nursing.

36 John Dahlberg-Acton (1834-1902). Wikipedia.

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82 Responses to "Forcing Flu Shots on Health Care Workers: Who Is Next?"
Commenter Name
patrons99
Posted: 9/30/2010 4:42:53 PM
Bravo! The timing is perfect. This is exactly what we need. Thank you so much for being out in front on this issue. The commentary and the influenza mandate talking points represent Manna from Heaven.
Commenter Name
Peter
Posted: 10/1/2010 7:41:31 AM
I think, the next should be the families of all related to medical profession/CDC/FDA, so that they can observe on their own children/spouses/parents/grandparents the effects of massive and regular vaccination. Maybe this would make the medical profession to wake up and oppose. Lets force them to public their vaccination records and request a look into it every time doctor practice or CDC/FDA office is visited.
Commenter Name
Christine
Posted: 10/1/2010 11:22:09 AM
Thank you! Tom Duane, a NYS Senator from Manhattan, is proposing legislation in early 2011 to force all health care workers in NYS to be vaccinated for influenza on a yearly basis. Here we go again! I count on the NVIC's support in opposing mandatory vaccines for health care workers.
Commenter Name
Todd W.
Posted: 10/8/2010 7:58:03 AM
<blockquote>Firing health care workers, already hit by unemployment, for simply exercising their human right to informed consent to medical risk taking, is unnecessary and unethical.</blockquote> Excuse me if I'm a bit skeptical of this claim. Please show that healthcare workers are being fired only for refusing the vaccine. Although I do not know every hospital's policy, it seems that the recommendations are to get vaccinated or to wear masks when interacting with patients. If a healthcare worker refuses <i>both</i>, then they should rightly be fired. If they are fired only for refusing to get vaccinated, but are willing to wear a mask, then that is clearly wrong. However, your claim here, it would appear, is nothing but misinformation, unless, of course, you can provide evidence that this is the general practice (as opposed to a unique situation), or that it even happened.
Commenter Name
Health Care Employee
Posted: 10/9/2010 6:30:05 PM
This is the second year in a row that employees have been mandated to receive the Flu shot at our Hospital. I escaped it just barely last year because I was pregnant and fought royally for the life of my unborn child, proving with documentation that safety studies have NOT BEEN PERFORMED on pregnant women or their babies. However, this year it has come full circle again, and while I am still breastfeeding my baby, they are not going to give me an exemption and I am afraid I will have no choice but to be fired for not getting the flu shot. What are we supposed to do? This is unjust, and I comppletely agree that if they can get away with mandating healthcare workers to have a specific vaccine, then it's only a matter of time that we will not be able to do anything, teach in schools, fly on an airplane, etc, without a plethra of poisons injected into our bodies.
Commenter Name
Kathleen Johnson
Posted: 10/9/2010 8:30:19 PM
I am a nurse whose place of employment has enacted this policy. A lot of us are very upset. I am willing to lose my job over this, but other people are very afraid they will have to make an awful choice. this is so wrong on so many levels. I have gone to the media (and gotten in trouble for it) and submitted my religious exemption, which will most likely be rejected. I will probably be out of a job on November 2nd, the deadline for getting the shot. Several of us are planning to do something, like a class action suit. Just not sure where to start. Has anyone been successful in fighting this?
Commenter Name
Chris
Posted: 10/13/2010 9:58:01 PM
In the hospital where I work in Chicago, all the employees except for the doctors are required to get yearly flu vaccine.Only few of them received voluntary flu vaccine. Why are we misleading the public by telling them that hospitals are safe and free from flu. Anyone and anywhere in public people can catch the flu bug and especially from doctors who are seeing sick people in their office or in the hospital all day long
Commenter Name
christine
Posted: 10/14/2010 10:02:24 AM
In response to the prior comment,in Illinois, the hospital where I work, many of us are discussing a plan to rally mandatory vaccination policy in front of our state capital as well as trying to get media attention. In addition to this, in this upcoming election I will definitely vote against any politician who is in favor of a policy that makes it mandatory for all hospital employees to be immunized.
Commenter Name
jack
Posted: 11/1/2010 9:54:46 AM
I have been damadged by a vaccine. Thanks medical Society
Commenter Name
Erik
Posted: 11/1/2010 4:09:11 PM
At my facility in Sacramento California, this university hospital while not yet absolutly mandating the combo influenza vaccine, are pushing it harder and harder. It is rather 'strange' that of all places which so heavily uses research to support its medical decisions has so aggressively pushed the H1N1 and other flu vaccines with so little evidence to support it and a growing body of evidence to refute the use of these vaccines. It is already Draconian. There are many employees here who are approaching angry level of resentment because of the administration's and medical board' aggressive position.
Commenter Name
syrinx
Posted: 11/2/2010 3:19:55 AM
The flu vaccine advocates are all under mind control. There is no study proving the safety efficacy of the flu vaccine. I`ve worked in a hospital for 20 years and ever since the push has been on for taking these toxic shots, there has actually been an increase in absenteeism among those that get the vaccine. 3/4 of my fellow employees who get the shot immediately get sick and miss an average of 3 days work thereafter. Public saftey eh? Do you realize how many non employees are waltzing through my hospital ( family, visitors etc.) on any given day, in direct contact with patients? Are they required to show they`ve taken a flu shot? How about the grocery store clerk who comes in contact with a lot more people than a nurse does during the course of his/her 12 hour shift. Should we require anyone working in a public get a vaccine as a condition of employment because immuno-suppressed people have to visit the supermarket too. The flu is a virus. A surgical mask does little to prevent the transmission of a virus. And lastly, because of the nursing shortage and hospitals tightening their budgets, i`ve seen many instances whereby nurses are encourgaged to show up to work, sick or not. I`ve never seen a manager send a nurse home who was coughing or sniffling. This whole flu vaccine thing is just setting a precendence for control. It has little to do with public safety. Do your research.
Commenter Name
Freehold NJ Wellness Center
Posted: 11/4/2010 9:11:42 AM
we need more information out in the public. Thanks to NVIC there is a strong organization to help educate the public.
Commenter Name
Shiree
Posted: 11/8/2010 12:20:29 AM
To respond to a comment above, the hospital I work for, is no longer giving us the option to wear a mask if we opt out of getting the "required" flu shot. This year, they are saying that if we choose not to get the vaccine, we will be "taken off active payroll". Apparently, that is their way of saying they are firing us! I do not qualify for the exemption, because it must be a medical or religious reason, and I already explained to them last year, that it wasn't either, but that I felt it was my choice what I will allow to be injected into my body. I requested a leave of absence last year, and they came back and said they would rather not lose good employees over this, but this year they are cracking down with their policy. I have one week to get the flu shot or I will be fired. I really wish there was some way to get someone to help those of us that are in this position. It is so wrong!
Commenter Name
Alicia
Posted: 11/8/2010 8:52:47 PM
Well said Syrinx. I agree completely. At work this year, those that got the flu vax, were entered in  a drawing. Big deal. 45 entered, 65 refused vaccination.  We had to sign a refusal and check either religious, allergy,  or just plain no. I checked all 3. I always say, it's the patient's  that get us sick, why would I come to work sick. And, it's  discrimination to award those who got the vaccine a 'prize'.  On top of that, my gf got a $100 bonus for getting the flu shot. Unbelievable.
Commenter Name
Beatrix
Posted: 11/14/2010 2:49:10 PM
Todd W, of course they are being fired or forced to resign. Some hospitals allow masks; others don't. See this so-called Honor Roll of some hospitals which are firing workers for refusing to be vaccinated: http://www.immunize.org/honor-roll/
Commenter Name
Jacky
Posted: 11/22/2010 1:16:34 PM
I never thought I would be glad to have an anaphylactic egg allergy so am exempt from the mandated flu vaccine at work. I am however being forced to wear a face mask. What I do not understand is I thought if you had the vaccination you could still carry and spread the disease so why isn't everyone being required to wear a mask.
Commenter Name
Jacky
Posted: 11/22/2010 1:17:10 PM
I never thought I would be glad to have an anaphylactic egg allergy so am exempt from the mandated flu vaccine at work. I am however being forced to wear a face mask. What I do not understand is I thought if you had the vaccination you could still carry and spread the disease so why isn't everyone being required to wear a mask.
Commenter Name
Chris RN
Posted: 12/1/2010 1:19:40 PM
I have seen several patients in the the hospital in the ICU unit where I work admitted after they have received the flu vaccine. They became very ill.They all had history of some autoimmune disease. Although the percentage of such cases may be small, I believe that patients that have an autoimmune disease should be educated along with their doctors and should not be receiving flu vaccines.
Commenter Name
Smashmonkey RN
Posted: 12/2/2010 11:01:33 PM
I just got taken off the schedule for refusing the shot. I had my clergy write a note and filled out the state religious exemption form. I will probably get fired, and right before Christmas. For me it is a religious belief, a philosophical belief, and a technical understanding that keeps me from getting it. Am I no longer in America where I have the right to be free? Can I really no longer choose what goes into my own body in order to keep a job? I feel so disgusted.
Commenter Name
LeAnne
Posted: 12/14/2010 4:49:59 PM
Here is the proof. I was recently "taken off the work schedule" because I refused the flu shot. I cannot go back to work until the CDC declares the flu season over, usually sometime in March. I am on unemployment. I work for a hospital, I do NOT have patient contact nor do I work directly with patients. I was allowed to sign a declination form last year and wear a mask, but this year they said NO. NO exceptions, even my strongly held personal beliefs. This is a travesty! There were 35 employees on the list who refused, and they were faced with either get the shot or you are off the schedule. Several of them caved, because it is hard to face being unemployed in this economy. Shame on my employer and all others that do not respect the civil rights of their loyal employees!!!!!
Commenter Name
LeAnne
Posted: 12/14/2010 4:54:04 PM
Kathleen, what State are you in?
Commenter Name
Tara
Posted: 12/16/2010 8:51:29 AM
The Military!!! In the case of health personel, it is not mandatory accross the board country wide. Not so with the military. They are the govt's guinie pigs! Every person in the military gets shot up with every vaccine available upon entering basic training, no matter what their vaccination history. And then if they are deployed they get a whole new round of vaccinations including anthrax and small pox. The life and health of our strong healthy young men and women is on the line...not only on the front lines but as soon as they sign on the dotted line.
Commenter Name
Judi
Posted: 12/16/2010 10:16:32 PM
Barbra I saw you on news 12 long island ny. last year i was mandated to take the flu shot between 6 weeks i started to have weird symptoms by 8 i basically had chronic guillain barre. ive been in and out of local hospital having treatments and i would real;ly like to talk to ypu about my experience. i really hope ypu can listen to me since im not an open and closed book case as my dr put it. im actually looking for some help answers since now im chronic and my job has fired me due to me not being in for a year which is horriable since i didnt want the shot to begin with but doh mandated since i was a medic in a hospital. please help me Judi
Commenter Name
Judi
Posted: 12/16/2010 10:16:53 PM
Barbra I saw you on news 12 long island ny. last year i was mandated to take the flu shot between 6 weeks i started to have weird symptoms by 8 i basically had chronic guillain barre. ive been in and out of local hospital having treatments and i would real;ly like to talk to ypu about my experience. i really hope ypu can listen to me since im not an open and closed book case as my dr put it. im actually looking for some help answers since now im chronic and my job has fired me due to me not being in for a year which is horriable since i didnt want the shot to begin with but doh mandated since i was a medic in a hospital. please help me Judi
Commenter Name
James
Posted: 2/26/2011 7:10:14 PM
We have the right to protection of our own bodies, and the right to protect others should we so choose. We have the right to own ourselves… and to choose to defend ourselves from those who we feel may do us harm. We have the right to life, to liberty, to property, and the ability to defend all of the above which are basic human rights, not constitutional ones. These rights are part of our right to life, and no person or government can ever take those rights away from any one of us. The loss of freedom is the enforcement of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. We have the right to protection of our own bodies, and the right to protect others should we so choose. We have the right to life, to liberty, to property, and the ability to defend all of the above which are basic human rights, not constitutional ones. We have the right to own ourselves… and to defend ourselves from those who would do us harm. These rights are part of our right to life, and no person or government can ever take those rights away from any one of us - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates the following relevant clauses: Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 6: Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person (sovereign) before the law. Article 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. - “A man is a sovereign unto himself, and may only be ruled by his own consent.” - John Wilkes - 1766
Commenter Name
Elliot Freeman
Posted: 7/4/2011 3:51:24 PM
Last year my hospital sent out a bulletin explaining that all empoyees must have the influenza vaccine OR THEY MAY BE FIRED. Can someone tell me if there is legal authority for the hospital to do that? I sent a lengthy letter explaining why I should not be foreced to take the vaccine. One reason was that I take vitamin D and I supply several anecdotal studies that pointed out the efficacy of vitamin D for influenza prophylaxis. They refused to consider my request for an exemption. Since I could not undergo the legal expense to sue the hospital if they fired me, I decided to take the vaccine against my better judgement. I really do not want to do the same thing again this year. Is there anyone who can help me???
Commenter Name
Rique23
Posted: 7/9/2011 3:20:38 PM
To Anyone experienced, I am writing this in addition to others as well. We work for St Francis Hospital SSM in Missouri State, that is mandating Flu vaccination by the end of this year. Anyone who does not have a valid Dr's note or a Letter from a religious leader will be subject to loseing their job. Many of us do not beleive in having any vaccines, especially the Flu vaccine due to its many possible complications or worse. Any information on how we can protect our civil rights / right to choose / or the right to deny any chemical injections would be of great help to the many. We are all very nervous and do not know who to turn to with this issue. Any information on current rights would be of needed help. Thank You for your time.
Commenter Name
Karen
Posted: 8/10/2011 10:18:32 AM
The same mandate is being proposed at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and there is a group trying to form to stop this, and we need help. This just cannot happen! I guess we can try to get our politicians involved, but then, most of them are corrupt aren't they? It's hard to know if there is anyone to trust anymore. It's all about the money these days, and there is much money to be made for the pharmaceutical companies with these vaccines and forcing so many to have them. I am losing hope wondering how to fight it. If enough people band together i wonder if we can? Can we start a FB page to see how many people are opposed to this sort of thing and get a petition that we could take all the way to the Supreme Court??? Couldn't we?? I would be willing to start it. Please reply. Thank you.
Commenter Name
Rosalind
Posted: 8/30/2011 9:49:31 PM
I know there is an exemption clause in the Oklahoma State Laws, which has allowed me to refuse "required immunizations" at my boys' schools, by way of letter, which I update yearly, at enrollment. Many are not aware we have a right to refuse & one school RN asked me for the website & state law that specifies our rights re: same. I was glad to give her the info. & she was glad to receive it. However, I work for the same health care system as you, Rique23, above, only in Ok City, OK. Until this year, we were able to sign papers yearly, citing reasons for objections. I'm going to try to get a letter from my Chiropractic Physician, but, as you may know, SSM does not cover Chiropractic Care, & I'm concerned it will not be honored. I've been searching for legislation re: this issue & have only found info. R/T children. Please let me know if any one finds such legal support & I will do the same. Thanks!
Commenter Name
David Niles
Posted: 9/20/2011 3:05:44 PM
I just got an email from my employer saying that we have to get it, or we lose our jobs. I"m refusing it, and so are some others. I live here in Texas, and never thought they would do this!!! I"m talking to a lawyer if I have to. Any adice from anyone??
Commenter Name
Paul Arthur
Posted: 9/20/2011 6:33:32 PM
HI David. I would first recommend asking for the full policy in writing. Many policies provide for religious and medical exemptions but staffers trying to urge compliance fail to tell you those rights sometimes. If there is no exemption available to you, there is an OSHA position statement that may help. Please contact Dawn Richardson, NVIC Director of Advocacy through the contact page of NVIC”s Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org. She is in Texas and knows the laws there too.
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Heidi
Posted: 9/26/2011 1:24:48 PM
I'm facing the same thing David. "Get the shot or get fired" says Munson Medical Center. I submitted a religious exemption but they are perpetually "reviewing" it and not giving me an answer. If it gets declined I'm prepared to be fired and you will have one noisy advocate on your side. The whole thing is insane.
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Nicunurse
Posted: 9/26/2011 10:02:57 PM
My hospital in northern california is now instituting this vaccine or use a mask policy this year. I am afraid of being 'bullied' into doing it as it is already happening.
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Patricia
Posted: 10/21/2011 12:12:24 PM
It is good to read and see others are feeling the same way I do about decking the flu vaccine. I have always been taught how that there is no cure or medication for a virus, but yet we are "suppose " to get the flu vaccine for a virus. What are our rights? Do we not have any, anymore? I thought this was a free country. Why have we fought for freedom in this country all these years, to still not have our freedom of choice? I feel that with each passing day, more and more of our freedom is being taken away. It's humiliating to wear a mask at work and I also have allergies and asthma, which makes it hard to breathe while wearing a mask. Why will they not sign a paper for us, which says that promises we will not get sick after this vaccine nor will it run down our immune system to pick up everything else?(even if they did or do, they are in denial) Please let me know what my rights are in declining the vaccine? Do I really have to wear this mask? Isn't it against HIPPA in singling us out? Many received the vaccine because they felt pressured into doing so and are not happy about it all.
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Melissa
Posted: 10/31/2011 1:31:43 PM
I live in MO and my hospital is mandating the flu vaccine this year. I absolutely refuse. I have several autoimmune diseases and am sure my immune system will attack the vaccine. I turned in a medical exemption form signed by my doctor but I was informed last week that my form was denied. They said my reasons were not valid reasons to not take the vaccine. So on Nov 15 I will be fired. This makes me so angry!!
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Lana
Posted: 11/7/2011 7:53:36 AM
Like others above, I am affected by the same "flu shot or mandatory voluntary resignation" issue at Aurora Health Care in WI. There is no way I will subject my body to this toxin, but the medical and religious exemption forms were ridiculous. Thus, here I sit waiting to see if they actually follow through on the threats, hoping there are so many like myself that it would be necessary to revise the rule. The company employs 30,000 people currently. I should note that we are not eligible for unemployment due to "voluntary resignation" and that we also signed a non-compete agreement that involves no similar work within 30 miles for a year. Some here have cooked up some great medical excuses, like "extreme disabling anxiety related to shots", but I feel a loss of integrity if I concoct one of these. On the flip side, there will be so many new cases of neurological and other illness after a few years of this nonsense that perhaps some good research can be conducted. My plan? Return to school for a bit to recert in naturopathic medicine. At least those professionals don't fire the docs for BS like this.
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T. Guerrero
Posted: 11/13/2011 1:55:13 PM
Our hospital is also implementing this policy. What a blatant violation of our civil liberties! Not to mention how hypocritical it is for us to go to extremes to inform and encourage our patients to take part in/make personal decisions about their own health care! This is not only ridiculous, it is terrifying! We are at least given the option to wear a mask if we choose not to receive the flu vaccine, but I feel it creates a hostile work environment and is extremely discriminatory! Where will we, as Americans, finally draw the line and stop letting the government bully us into blindly complying with such violations of individual rights?
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dgallegos
Posted: 11/15/2011 11:11:53 AM
In Colorado the CDC is currently trying to change legislation making the flu shot mandatory for all healthcare workers. I currently use the exemption, religious and egg allergy. However, they want to do away with the exemption and require or fire. I have been told by one lawyer that companies can make any requirement, such as this, that they chose. It is our choice whether or not we work there. How can that be? If enough people came together with petitions lawsuits etc... It would seem we could do something. I will join forces with anyone that has an answer for this on a national level. Dcb
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joy
Posted: 12/2/2011 3:10:50 PM
Has anyone else lost the opportunity to work due to refusal to take the flu shot. what do you do about lost wages? I am a regular PRN employee who has been working partime for 11 years with the home care agency. i am told NO Work for you during flu season!!!They will not put it in writing. Am i eligible for unemployment during that period is my question? I live in PA this is my third attempt to post on this site...
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Gayle
Posted: 12/4/2011 3:01:25 PM
This was a succinct and well put message. I have had a severe reaction to the flu vaccine in the past and now face wearing a mask or losing my job as a nurse. I also have asthma and I am trying to find information of the long-term affects of wearing a mask for twelve hours. I can smell the chemicals in the mask and there is no listing on the packaging of what the mask is made of.
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Rebecca
Posted: 12/15/2011 8:07:28 PM
I agree with everyone and their comments in regards to the influenza vaccination. Why do employees have to be forced to get the flu shot. We all are aware of the risks we are taking everyday working in healthcare. I guess everyone still has to sign for the shot. I plan to sign "I am being forced to get the flu vaccine against my rights due to my emloyer forcing all employees to get the flu vaccine or face termination from my job."
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CINDY
Posted: 12/22/2011 11:19:26 PM
I work at a hospital in a clerical position. I have a rare distrophy that prevents me from taking the vaccine. We were required to take the vaccine or provide a signed form annually from a doctor or a one time signed form for religious reasons from a clergyman (why annual for MD, nonexpiring from clergy?) Now (a month later) we have been told that we must wear a facemask while at work or we will be terminated because we are not immunized. A mask doesn't help against a viral much to begin with and why are these people so upset over the flu when we loose more people to pneumonia annually than we ever thought about from the flu. I hope everyone keeps fighting. So much for the freedoms our military give thier lives for. God Bless them for trying to protect our rights.
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Betty
Posted: 1/9/2012 10:25:39 AM
I work in at a hospital in VT. and like everyone else was mandated to get a flu shot. Those of us that refused, no matter the reason, are forced to wear a mask. As has been mentioned the facemask really does not do much for protection and feels more like a punishment. It would seem to me that this is a HIPPA violation as well. Those that get the vaccine have a big tag on their badge and all others must wear the mask. I certainly feel that this changes the work environment and creates tension amongst employees and with management. If the vaccine worked so well, one would not have to get the shot every year! We will never eradicate the flu virus. It will just keep mutating. The bottom line is that it should be your CHOICE!
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gail
Posted: 1/22/2012 1:57:44 PM
My large hospital association has required workers to get flu shots at threat of firing. I would like to know what big pharma and big management payoffs are being made. This should be published. There is no good proof that flu shots are effective and there is proof that people have been injured by them. I suggest those wearing face masks put an American flag symbol on them to elicit people's attention to their rights as Americans and open conversation about what it means to lose yet another freedom!
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renee
Posted: 1/23/2012 9:18:07 PM
I work at a Mass. hospital where the flu vaccine is mandatory, or get fired. My doctor wrote a medical exemption for me, which is now being challenged. It is so discouraging to talk to so many people who say 'just take the vaccine' or 'it's probably not that bad for you' or 'is this really the fight you want to have?'. The hospital is just choosing the literature they choose to endorse, and ignoring the Cochrane Reports citing how ineffective the flu vaccine really is and how poorly most of the revered studies have been set up. And they also ignore the studies that show that increased vitamin D3 in schoolkids reduced confirmed influenza ("Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren", Urashima, Am J Clin Nutr 2010;91:1255–60.). There are many other studies showing the effectiveness of vitamin D. But that doesn't solve our current problem. One item I saw somewhere, which I would love to verify, said the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals was tied to hospital vaccination rates. If someone could find that reference, and it's true, there could potentially be one heck of a conflict of interest angle to this!!
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susan
Posted: 3/2/2012 7:21:12 PM
Today Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights Illinois, informed me of the, get your flu vaccine, wear a mask for 8 hours or you will be fired policy. Same as all of your stories. I can not afford unemployment, the mask makes me anxious and humiliated in front of my coworkers. I have lost my right to decide what goes into my body. We have all lost our right to decide. What in Gods name is happening to us???? How can we unite to fight against such mandatory orders???? Where will this end???? someone needs to help us.
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Alex
Posted: 9/20/2012 1:43:27 PM
To peter - Yeah we should, because then my whole family would be safe. As a medical student, I have no problem at all with the flu shot requirement being extended to me as I see at least ten patients a week in addition to my class time when I go into clinic on Tuesdays, and I would feel terrible if I was jeopardizing the health and lives of those I treat by passing the influenza virus to them.
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Jeff
Posted: 10/2/2012 7:38:32 AM
I work for a large Detroit area hospital (St. Joseph Mercy Oakland) and I am now being forced to either take the flu shot or get "separated" from my job. I am appalled that I am being forced to take a vaccination that includes things that I do not want to put into my body but I have to make a choice of either keeping my job and support my family or lose it by standing up and rejecting this atrocity that goes against my God-given right of what I put into my body. I am being forced against my will and either choice makes me afraid. I have until December 1 to get the shot or face loss of my job. Amerika, we need to wake up! We are headed down the path of a police state!
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Becky
Posted: 10/9/2012 1:51:37 PM
In Casper, Wyoming, Wyoming Medical Center is also bullying their employees into getting a flu shot. Maybe we should just make a list online somewhere that exposes all of these businesses that think they can threaten and coerce their employees to forcibly put unknown toxic chemicals into their bodies. Force me to get a shot = TERRIBLE employee satisfaction = I won't work for you = I will tell every person I know not to work for you = Word of mouth goes a long ways....
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Labtech
Posted: 10/11/2012 5:36:19 PM
I am a 62 year old male who has been in the lab field for over 30 years. I have found it increasingly difficult to find work in my field because of state and hospital regulations regarding flu vaccination. I have never had the flu, and except for my 4 years in the military, I have not been vaccinated for influenza in over 26 years. It is no secret that Hospitals are hurting for qualified medical personnel, and it seems to me that their policies not only hurt their recruitment efforts, but the very community they claim to help.
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Kristie
Posted: 10/16/2012 12:06:59 AM
I am a 43 year old female who has worked as an occupational therapist for 16 years. I have been signing the personal beliefs exemption for many years. Last year, my employer, Sutter Health, threatened that if we declined the vaccine that we would be required to wear a mask. This year I have been informed that we WILL be required to wear a mask for the entire flu season (six months beginning Nov. 1st) and that they "hope that I will take this into consideration when I make my decision." I am resigning. Here is my resignation letter: It is with regret that after eight years of service that I submit my resignation to ....effective... The reason for my resignation is that I do not agree with Sutter Health’s forced vaccination policy for the annual flu vaccine. I find the policy requiring employees who decline the vaccine to wear a mask throughout the flu season discriminatory and humiliating. While I support the hospital’s desire to maintain safety for both patients and staff, the literature does not support the effectiveness or safety of the flu vaccine (supporting articles attached). Requiring that employees be injected with a substance that will not necessarily protect them and could cause debilitating illness, in exchange for employment is suspect at best. I maintain that what is injected into my body is my choice and I will not be intimidated, threatened or coerced into getting the vaccine. I am not the only Sutter Health employee who has felt “bullied” by this policy. My hope is that my resignation will cause Sutter Health to rethink their policies regarding the rights of their employees and the implications of mandatory vaccination. The current trend of mandating flu shots for healthcare workers is pushed by policy and is unwarranted. I predict that this policy will cause a continued loss of skilled and dedicated employees.
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anne
Posted: 11/12/2012 3:38:47 PM
My hospital is also requiring it or forcing us out of our jobs by today. I discussed the vaccine with my physician and she wrote a letter recommending we do NOT receive it because the swine flu vaccine has not been monitored sufficiently. Perhaps your physicians can do the same thing, although I don't know if will actually make a different at this point. So sad
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DMT
Posted: 12/9/2012 12:19:45 PM
We need help!!!! Last year my employer made everyone sign a form if they declined the influenza vaccine. This year, you can only decline for religious or medical reason...and now they just changed it to say that we have to wear masks when there is an epidemic. I suspect that next year they won't allow any exemptions, and will crack down even more. I want to know what is actually behind this!!! I heard that Medicare and medicaid payments were going to be tied to vaccination rates of healthcare workers by hospitals that take Medicare/medicaid payments. Does anyone know if this is true? The CDC has a Healthy People 2020 goal, is that what it is from? Surely there must be someone who can help. If I had the money I would sue the CDC.
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Sconnor
Posted: 12/29/2012 11:05:49 AM
Until recently I worked for Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta,GA. I quit after 8 yrs and the vaccine policy was one of the top reasons. They also require employees to get the flu vaccine or wear a mask and provide a reason such as religion for opting out. It is also mandatory for all employees (even those who are in business offices not in even contact with patients) to have annual TB testing - or you will lose your job. This does nothing but tell you someone does not currently have TB but could contract it the day after the test,very useless and ineffective. These large money hungry hospitals are not in the business of making people well and care even less about their employees.
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Teresa
Posted: 1/5/2013 1:27:40 PM
I don't want anything shoved down my throat, not food, not vaccinations. I stand on my religious ground and my constitutional rights of freedom of speech and religion! Your stupid to think that this is for something other than massive pharma PROFITS and to get you sick so you take more PHARMA and spend more money! WAKE UP, don't be a DRONE! In 1983 birth to 6 years old were 10 shots! Now there are 39 (THIRTY-NINE) SHOTS from birth to 6. No wonder AUTISM is on the RISE, and is PANDEMIC in my View! ARE YOUR KIDS HEALTHIER THAN YOU WERE AS A KID? PROBABLY NOT, IF YOU ARE VACCINATING! WHO OWNS YOUR KIDS? You or PHARMA. IF YOU ALLOW THE POISON INTO YOUR KIDS BODIES, THEN I THINK YOU ARE AN UNCONCERNED PARENT! YOU WOULDN"T FEED YOUR KIDS MERCURY, then why let it go past the SKIN BARRIER? In the shots are MERCURY, ALUMINUM and FORMELDEHYDE. WHY DO YOU WANT TO PUT THESE HARMFUL CHEMICALS and other stuff that may change your DNA IN YOUR BABIES BODIES? What are you going to do if the side effects are going to be you or your kids - too late then... I religiously believe in not vaccinating and having a stong healthy immune system. I think my kids are healthier than most! I am depressed to see kids under 10 overweight, unhealthy and SLOW. Do you think as time and generations go further that things will be better? Since they approved vaccines in 1905, Mercury Fillings we have been going DOWNHILL. Our Government still has not acknowledged that this is bad - too much corruption! Former Dr. Andrew Wakefield wrote a book called Callous Disregard, for telling people the connection between Autism and Vaccinations, so they took away his license to practice. Its people like him that are BRAVE to stand up and tell the truth!
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LMarino
Posted: 1/31/2013 9:02:11 AM
Hi I live in New York and am new to this site. My daughter is not vaccinated and just beginning a nursing program in college. She wants to become a nurse practitioner and work in a hospital ( and also do Doctors without Borders) but is told she cannot be hired without vaccinations. Is this true? She has always had personal religious exemption on her records with no problems. Can she still become a nurse?? Does anyone know about NY laws? Whenever I ask a hospital they say no way she can work w/out vaccinations! Thank you! Editors note: That is true. Hospitals impose conditions of employment that differ from state education laws and mandates. I would suggest you contact Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, who is a friend and practices in Manhattan for some clarification. His contact info is: http://www.drpalevsky.com/
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J
Posted: 2/21/2013 8:38:33 PM
Thank you for sharing this video and information. I had a career in health care for 8 years. I refused the flu vaccination each year. In 2011, the organization made the flu vaccination mandatory for all employess. Everyone had to be vaccinated by December 31, 2011 OR they would have "voluntarily terminated" their employement. With this information I made a personal decision to resign from my management position by giving the required 4 week notice. In my resignation letter I sited my personal decision was based on the new mandatory flu vaccination requirement. There was nothing that could be done to help me keep my career. It's been over a year now, and I have not been able to find new employment. It's awful to think back how my life changed so dramitcally over this forced requirement. I am still very happy that I chose not to have the vaccine, but feel it should have been my right to chose not to have it and have kept my job.
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Hospice Nurse
Posted: 6/3/2013 10:38:29 AM
I am in North Carolina, employed by a large, NFP healthcare corporation. Annual flu vaccination or a signed declination has been required for several years. Decliners were required to mask. For the 2013-14 flu season, vaccination is mandatory. Failure to comply by Nov 15, 2013 results in a termination. Requests for medical or religious exemptions are subject to review by a board of physicians or spiritual advisers, chosen by my employer. I will request both, but have little hope of them being accepted. I have 2 well managed autoimmune diseases, have not been out of work due to illness for 5 years and want to keep it that way. The vaccine terrifies me. This strong-arm disregard for personal rights of loyal employees is alarming, and damaging to employee relations. Are there attorneys who specialize in fighting employee vaccination mandates? Please, any leads will be greatly appreciated!
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bea
Posted: 10/8/2013 3:01:10 PM
This is now happening in a large Healthcare organization that runs a number of hospitals in Columbus Ohio. I work in the exercise facility associated with this, teaching group fitness classes to healthy people. It looks as though I will be losing my job by not getting the flu shot by Dec1, as I do not have the CDC approved medical excuse (egg allergy) or religious reasons. I wonder is it better to just resign or to wait to get fired. I want to avoid the drama yet they should know how many good people they are losing over this. How can I find the others like myself?
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Nicole
Posted: 10/23/2013 12:06:43 PM
Nov 1st , we are required to get the flu vaccine in our hospital and if we refuse...we have to wear a mask for 6 months..everyday..all day..it is nothing but a bully tactict to try to get us to not stay true to our beliefs and so that they can make money....it makes me so sad that this is what our country is comming to...we don't have any rights...we are trapped and made to feel like nothing if we don't abide...i fear for my future children..if i even decide to have them so that they will go through the same...i feel hopeless...completely hopeless...
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George
Posted: 10/25/2013 4:04:02 PM
It's business (hospital) keeping business(drug Companies)...in business (profit). Somebody is getting there back scratched. Pockets are being stuffed full of cash. This is not a push to make healthcare safer. Furthermore, the strain of flu is never the same strain that people are vaccinated for. Great idea, let's just vaccinate people with what strain "we project" will be prevelant.
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Laura
Posted: 10/30/2013 4:03:21 PM
I am so happy I found this website while searching for medical professionals against the flu vaccination. I work for a large hospital in Minnesota and we are also being told that by December 1st, we have to have the flu vaccine. One of the thing that bothers me the most about this, is that as if the flu vaccine alone isn't harmful to your body, but now they have been including the H1N1 vaccine in along with it so you do not have a choice but to get both vaccinations - the H1N1 vaccine with very little research and development, mind you. I feel very strongly against getting this vaccination but also cannot lose my job. Those of you who wrote that we are being "bullied" into putting these toxins into our body nailed it on the head. I would love to know if anyone has inquired about legal actions that could be taken? Editors note: Laura check out the FB Group "Nurses Against Mandatory Vaccines"
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Julia
Posted: 11/5/2013 5:15:50 PM
I too am an RN and I work for an Indiana hospital system that is mandating mandatory vaccine or be fired. We can fill out a request for exemption based on ethical religious or medical reasons. I was granted an exemption last year based on my ethical beliefs and filed the same paperwork this year and was denied. A co- worker filed the exact same request as I did and was granted the exemption, I had a severe reaction to a vaccine as a child and refuse all vaccines in my adult life so I talked to my physician and got a letter from her recommending that I do not take the vaccine and was still denied! My hospital even went so far as to call me and tell me they had made an appointment the next day at an allergy specialist to get tested for allergies and if none were found then the allergy physician would give me the vaccine! I of course refused, I was never asked nor did I give them consent to make a healthcare appointment with a physician I don't know to give me 3 hours of allergy testing!!! When did our human rights get taken away!!! I am NOT allowing myself to be injected with potentially harmful toxins and I will probably lose the job I dearly love because of it but someone has to take a stand!
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mplo
Posted: 11/11/2013 8:51:44 PM
Frankly, I think that people, especially health-care workers, people with compromised immune systems/chronic illnesses, or elderly people who refuse to get the flu vaccine, are playing Russian Roulette. There's no guarantee that one won't get the flu if they're vaccinated against the flu, but s/he won't get as bad a case of the flu in the event that s/he comes down with it. Imho, a person who earns his/her living working in a hospital and taking care of patients is playing Russian Roulette by not getting vaccinated against the flu, because s/he can not only pick up an infection, but give a patient an infection, imho.
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Carlos
Posted: 11/13/2013 6:18:46 PM
Question: Can you get sick or adverse effects from having too many flu shots in a season? Like, instead of 1, a person gets 4 or 5 ?
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Carlos
Posted: 11/13/2013 6:35:20 PM
An by the way, You Nurse's never ever get any credit and that also implys, you never ever get any of the in-direct credit too! Very few people know of the "Nurse's Without Borders" an I've witnessed first hand exactly how resolute and tough you nurses are in emergency and disaster scenario's! You need much more limelight shone on this extraordinary group!
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Mr D
Posted: 11/20/2013 5:53:03 PM
I work for Northside hospital in Atlanta Ga.(home of the lovely CDC) I work in the business office, I have NO contact with patients and I am forced to wear a humiliating mask(6 months). I choose not to take the Flu shot for Religious and ethical reasons. At least twice a day someone asks me if I have "SOMETHING". Is there anyone that I can reach out to about this? Any advice would be helpful. I feel like a 12 yr old being bullied by the HS senior. Remember..."Those who stand for nothing, fall for everything"....I choose to stand!
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Vicky
Posted: 12/23/2013 3:58:10 PM
My daughter was just let go from her life-guarding job, because the gym where the pool is located is under the UNC healthcare system and she did not have a flu shot. They had not even told her she had to have one until after the deadline was given. My husband is an infectious diseases pharmacist and he doesn't think she needs one, non of us ever gets one in our family.
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Fawn Hoelcle
Posted: 12/23/2013 6:00:51 PM
I am an lpn in a facility in the buffalo ny area. I refused my flu shot lime any thinking human should do and am now forced to wear the 'mask of shame' as well. I feel this is humiliating and causes it to be difficult to do my job. Its hard to breath and I am not even allowed to take it down for even a second without being told I will be written up! I also feel that it is a direct violation of my rights under HIPPA. Because I wear this mask, all my co- workers, residents, visitors and family members know my PRIVATE decision to opt against the flu shot. Not only is it embarrassing to me, but it frightens the residents and families. Another thing, many of the residents did not even want a flu shot , and we dont know if family and visitors recieved one, so is it really necessary to force me and my fellow co-workers to wear this stigmatizing mask? I think that a class action lawsuit is in order, for a direct violation of our human and civil rigts, and not to forget discrimin.
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Fawn Hoelcle
Posted: 12/23/2013 6:13:45 PM
I am an lpn in a facility in the buffalo ny area. I refused my flu shot lime any thinking human should do and am now forced to wear the 'mask of shame' as well. I feel this is humiliating and causes it to be difficult to do my job. Its hard to breath and I am not even allowed to take it down for even a second without being told I will be written up! I also feel that it is a direct violation of my rights under HIPPA. Because I wear this mask, all my co- workers, residents, visitors and family members know my PRIVATE decision to opt against the flu shot. Not only is it embarrassing to me, but it frightens the residents and families. Another thing, many of the residents did not even want a flu shot , and we dont know if family and visitors recieved one, so is it really necessary to force me and my fellow co-workers to wear this stigmatizing mask? I think that a class action lawsuit is in order, for a direct violation of our human and civil rigts, and not to forget discrimin.
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Thomas H.
Posted: 12/29/2013 12:35:47 AM
I am forced to wear a mask as I refuse to get a shot. NY state has mandated that all health care workers who decline must wear a mask. My employer has mandated that all those who get the shot must have an identifying sticker on their name badge. Therefore you can easily be identified if you have gotten the shot by your badge or declined it as evidenced by your mask. Is this not a part of my confidential medical information and therefore a HIPPA violation of my privacy? I have filed a complaint with HIPPA regarding the fact that everyone I work with now has my confidential information.
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Ashley Fortin
Posted: 1/2/2014 8:04:42 AM
Im a healthcare worker in New York state, its not mandated for us to recieve the flu shot, however of we do refuse we are forced to wear a mask once we atep inside the hospital or else we could be fired. I have a problem with the fact that icould be fired for doing something while I'm not on the clock. Ive been to HR to discuss this and all they tell me is that the protocol from the state is vague so just to do what my manager says wven though I do not agree with it. The mask is claimed to protect our patients, well thats a crock. Anyone (even those who got the "vaccine" ) can carry the active virus on their body or even inside, the difference is one person may show symptoms while the other does not. The mask is a brand, everyone who walls by me knows that I did not recieve the flu shot. I am then forced to explainor even defend my human right to people.who are ignorant to the information. On top of this persecution, I feel like I'm actually getting sick from having to wear the mask, I'm constantly breathing in warm, moist recyled air which by the end of my shift my throat hurts and I feel the past few weeks Ive been more forgetful. I needed to respond so that people do know our jobs are at risk for practicing our human right and not being sheep that follow the drug companies will.
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Valerie Raucci
Posted: 4/11/2014 10:57:26 AM
I am happy to be wearing a mask
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Melvina Jones
Posted: 9/14/2014 11:45:18 AM
I was injected with smallpox at age 10 by order of the Health Department at my grade school in Michigan, that gave my a blood disease because of it and heart damage .now every time i drink the water i get a bacteria infection and i have to have stool samples done for them to find the bacteria , then i nave to take a series of penicillin G injections . the first time i took them for 4 years, i was lucky i had a good Doctor then but Not all Doctors know what to do and most of them will not listen . The others that were in the Hospital at the time i was there passed away as their hearts were so weak they could not even walk to the bathroom .I can NEVER be inoculated with anything and have not been since 1961. The Health Department needs to leave it up to a persons Doctor NOT the GOVERNMENT.Heck they can not even clean up the public water .
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Ginger Scarlatti
Posted: 9/24/2014 4:17:52 PM
The fascists at work are going around department by department this year inoculating everyone and anyone in the office. I'll be taking a vacation day that day. F the flu shot and my work for forcing everyone to get one. I have yet to get the flu in my 30+ years of living and if I get sick, I stay home.
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Jessica
Posted: 9/26/2014 10:33:14 PM
Memorial Regional Hospital in Florida is now requiring the flu shot, if you decline, you wear a mask for 6 months. Sometimes the right thing isn't the easiest thing.
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JH
Posted: 11/2/2014 8:34:59 AM
I work for Ministry Healthcare. They are mandating the influenza vaccination also. I have an allergy to it so I have always had a physician sign a declination form. I was not aware of a deadline date that the declination form had to be turned in by and missed it by a couple weeks. I had the declination form filled out last year for the same employer and they are declining it because I was considered noncompliant by Sept 15. Everyone else who gets the vaccination had until November 1 to be compliant and then HR even pushed the deadline for them back to Dec 1 because of the ebola outbreak preparation had taken so much of peoples time. I wrote an email to HR requesting they reconsider because the deadline was pushed back for everyone else and I was not aware of their declination deadline. The denied it. They said I had to get the shot to be compliant and eligible for my wage increase otherwise I dont get it and am ineligible. Absurd! There has to be a way of stopping the government from dictating what we put in our bodies! I guarantee most of them are not vaccinated!
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Samantha
Posted: 12/28/2014 5:31:25 PM
I am a college student who was planning on getting a job in the healthcare industry. The mandated flu vaccination is reason enough to rethink my entire career plans. I will not be forced to be injected year after year with a flu vaccine that doesn't even have the right flu strains because the flu is a virus that mutates constantly. You should not be forced to wear a mask for 8 hours because that is terrible for your health, breathing in recycled air under a mask means you're not getting adequate oxygen. Shame on the CDC and the hospitals who are allowing this to happen. Shame on them, they should be taken to court and held accountable for such blatant trampling of human rights. I do not want a healthcare career if this is what it is coming to. I already am vaccine injured. I have a chronic autoimmune disease from the numerous vaccines I have received in my lifetime as a child when I wasn't given a choice. I have no idea what career field to go into now, I'm thinking about working at a University instead but I can only imagine its a matter of time before all teachers, administrators, store clerks, and everyone with a job is "mandated" to inject poison into their bodies thanks to the government that owns them like cattle. You can still pass on the virus even if you are vaccinated, so there is no logic in these vaccines anyway you look at it. The flu is a virus, the vaccine is not a cure, never has been! Elderly people, children, and pregnant women are all at increased risks for getting vaccines. A doctor even once told me to my face that her own mother died shortly after getting the flu vaccine. That's because it compromises the immune system. Even healthy people get vaccine injured like I did. If I ever got a vaccine again my entire body would probably attack itself. I really wanted to work at a hospital - now I think it's best I look elsewhere until more people stand up for their rights and get this supposed "law" abolished. Forcing people to get vaccinated? You've got to be kidding me, what's next? Police state. I am thinking long and hard about bringing children of my own into this world, because during their first year I will be forced to get them vaccinated with tons of toxic injections or have to jump through hoops for years after if I don't. My uterus has already been disfigured by a vaccine I took when I was 14, I'm sure many of you can guess which vaccine that was, but of course its a "coincidence", right? I know better. I had to beg my elderly dad who never leaves the house not to get a flu shot this year, he has so many health problems already I knew he would get sick if he got the shot.
Commenter Name
Jason
Posted: 10/30/2015 6:48:35 PM
I will never get a vaccine and nobody will ever make me very simple!
Commenter Name
Thomas Carson
Posted: 2/6/2016 9:08:18 PM
Hello, I am a Registered Nurse who was unjustly terminated from my hospital job for not being able to take the flu shot due to childhood leukemia history and not being able to wear a mask all day long due to clostrophobia, I asked my employer for accomadation but they refused terminating my employment instead, I have retained legal cousel from a employemnt attorney here in Florida who has successfully sued local hospitals for the flu shot policy. He mostly won suites for religious objection to the shot, he admits my case is different and unique and specialized, he is whiling to research the issue but he and I need legal help particularly in the case law area. I believe the main way to combat this is the case law known as: Nurses union newyork vs HCA hospitals. In that case law, a federal judge determined that HCA hospital could not mandate the flu shot to its employees without providing workers compensation coverage for the flu shot side effects to its employees. HCA hospitals found out that their workers compensation insurance carrier would not insure the flu shot because it was too litigious and unsafe. To get around this, HCA hospital implemented the famious mask policy. They still to this day mandate employees who do not get the flu shot must wear a mask all day no matter what including medical contraindications. They are coercing employees to take the shot despite the risks so they do not have to provide workers compensation coverage for the flu shot. My former employer adopted the same policy and like HCA they terminated me for violating it. Believe it or not, hospitals are doing this in order to obtain greater government reinbursement if hospitals obtain a 90% flu vaccination rate among their staff they get greater medicare and medicaid reinbursement. This rule was enacted under Obama Care. Ladies and Gentleman this is the reason we have our mutual problem. I think this is wrong and I am going to sue my former employer for unjust and really illegal termination. We will see what the flu shot and screwing employees for that government money is worth to them. I am currently seeking legal and case law assistance for my case I would appreciate any assistance anyone can provide.
Commenter Name
Back 2 Health NJ
Posted: 3/9/2020 9:07:46 PM
This article was written 10 years ago. The "penalty" for a healthcare worker was mild then compared to now. Look up the CDC healthy people 2020 campaign. They laid out an adult vaccine schedule.
Commenter Name
Chris
Posted: 12/1/2022 11:19:31 AM
To HELL with your totalitarian / authoritarian mandates!
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