Should nurses be forced to get a flu shot?

They work in health care, but should nurses be forced by their hospital employers to get a flu vaccine? Some nurses say absolutely not, which is why the Washington State Nurses Association is suing the company Multicare that operates Tacoma General Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.

“This is an unusual step by Multicare where it’s being mandated and forced upon the nurses to either take the flu shot or potentially lose their jobs,” Heather Stephen Selby, the Assistant Executive Director of the Washington State Nurses Association, tells KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz.

Selby says Multicare has set up an adjudication committee, made up of representatives from Employee Health, Infection Prevention, Chaplain, human resources, legal, pharmacy and two physicians, to evaluate cases where nurses decline the flu shot, which she believes is a first.

“Normally, you can decline for medical reasons such as egg allergies for example, personal belief or religious belief, and that would go to an HR department and Employee Health. As a nurse or health care provider, you would wear a mask when working with patients. In this case, the committee can choose to accept the decline or say they want more information.”

Having to provide this additional medical information to an employer is also an issue, says Selby.

“They’re actually reviewing the medical records and they are, in some cases, asking for more information, and again, that information should be between the patient and provider and not the employee/employer.”

The CDC requirement, Selby explains, is that a nurse either get the flu shot, or if they decline to do so, then they wear a mask when working with patients.

“So certainly if the nurse does not do the flu shot, he or she can wear use a mask, which is standard protocol for CDC guidelines. CDC also requires a voluntary process for taking the flu vaccine and it does not encourage mandatory vaccinations,” says Selby.

Selby says so far, no one has been fired, but one nurse was suspended, and they’ve had reports from other members who felt they had no choice but to get the vaccine because they were afraid of repercussions and losing their job.

“I really want to stress we believe in the flu vaccine for the care and safety of all patients,” says Selby, “but we do have an alternate method to protect patients should the staff member not do the flu shot, which is using a mask, and that is standard practice in every major medical center in the country.”

In a statement, MultiCare said, “it has made it a condition of employment that all employees be vaccinated against the flu, or be exempted because of medical reasons, or religious or deeply held personal beliefs. The flu vaccine is the most effective way to protect our patients and our health care workers from this virus. Health care workers who receive the influenza vaccination help prevent the spread in our community.”