Influenza Vaccinationfor Health Care Workers: A Duty of Care

Abstract

The medical literature has amply documented the transmission of influenza from patients to health care workers (HCWs) (1,2), from HCWs to patients (3) and between HCWs (4-9). The consequences of influenza transmission within the health care environment include morbidity and mortality among patients, most of who are at high risk for the complications of infection, and illness and absenteeism among health care providers. When outbreaks occur in health care facilities, absenteeism among HCWs may approach 30% to 40%, resulting in severe staff shortages, increased employment costs and the potential endangerment of health care delivery due to the scarcity of replacement workers (10-13).

Vaccination coverage in healthcare workers: a multicenter cross-sectional study in Italy

“…Another issue detected in our study was the high percentage of HCWs who declared not recalling what vaccinations they had received; this probably reflects a lax attitude and a lack of confidence in vaccination. HCWs should understand that all vaccines are safe and useful; they should regard vaccination both as a right and as a duty, in order to protect themselves and their patients [ 37 ].…”

Understanding healthcare worker uptake of influenza vaccination: a survey

“…In relation to 'duty of care', the uptake of influenza vaccination is considered by some as part of this responsibility (Orr, 2000;Nichol, 2003;Harris and Holm, 1995;Rea and Upshur, 2001). Despite noting a statistically significant difference in attitude to the statement 'Influenza vaccination is part of a nurse's duty to care', this study also found that only 16% of all respondents considered influenza vaccination to be part of such duty.…”

Factors Affecting Medical Students’ Uptake of the 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Vaccine

“…In the United Kingdom (UK), 474 deaths had occurred by the end of the 2009/10 influenza season with the highest case-fatality rate among the over 65-year age group [1, 2]. Vaccination is one of the intervention strategies used to mitigate an influenza pandemic [3, 4]; therefore, as part of the Department of Health (DH) vaccination policy healthcare workers were recommended to receive the H1N1 vaccine to protect themselves, protect patients, and maintain frontline services during the pandemic [5, 6]. At the University of Birmingham, clinical year (3rd–5th year) medical students were also offered the H1N1 vaccine from November 2009 [7].…”

“…Influenza vaccination of health care workers (HCW) is known to be effective in preventing seasonal influenza, reducing absenteeism, and protecting patients against nosocomial infection with a resultant decrease in morbidity and mortality [6, 8]. In spite of these benefits, seasonal influenza vaccine uptake among HCW in the UK has traditionally been disappointingly low with uptake of less than 20% in the pre-pandemic year of 2008/2009 in the UK [9].…”