Flu experts call for mandatory shots for health care workers
Jan 25, 2007 - 5:00:00 AM
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Attention to pandemic flu is not what it was at this time last year, but pandemic flu is not last year's story, she said. The threat has always been with us, and it will likely always be with us. If we hope to be ready the next time a killer virus emerges, we need a serious, sustained, long-term commitment.
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By Infectious Diseases Society of America,
[RxPG] ALEXANDRIA, VA -- The top professional society of infectious diseases experts is insisting that all physicians, nurses, and other health workers caring for patients be vaccinated against influenza each year or decline in writing. It is the strongest call yet to plug a critical weakness in the nation's flu preparations.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is issuing the call to Congress and the Administration as part of a new set of recommendations to better prepare the nation and the world for an inevitable influenza pandemic, as well to improve responses to the perennial threat of seasonal influenza.
The document is one of the most complete assessments to date on the major outstanding issues surrounding flu preparations. IDSA intends its principles to complement Congress' and the Administration's efforts in enacting the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act in December 2006. IDSA's principles support many of the concepts found in the new law, but provide additional direction and a level of specificity not found in the Act.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 226,000 people are hospitalized with influenza and 36,000 people die from it every year in the United States alone. Even a mild influenza pandemic is expected to kill 100,000 to 250,000 Americans, and a severe pandemic could kill 2 million.
Health care workers caring for sick patients are routinely exposed to influenza virus and often spread it around. Yet each year fewer than two in five health care workers get a flu shot.
It's our professional duty to first do no harm, said Andrew T. Pavia, MD, chair of IDSA's National and Global Public Health Committee. Voluntary systems haven't brought immunization rates up far enough. For the sake of our patients, all health care workers must get a flu shot every year or they must be required to opt out in writing.
Responding to the perennial threat of seasonal flu will help us prepare for an influenza pandemic, and vice versa, said Kathleen Maletic Neuzil, MD, chair of IDSA's Pandemic Influenza Task Force. For example, she said, the yearly supply of influenza vaccine fluctuates widely because there are very few pharmaceutical companies interested in manufacturing it. A bigger and more stable market for vaccine would lure more companies into the field, improving the capacity to quickly develop a pandemic vaccine.
IDSA applauds the federal government for making a great deal of progress on pandemic influenza preparedness over the past two years, particularly with the passage last year of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act. But the bulk of the work remains ahead, and Dr. Neuzil noted there is a looming risk of flu fatigue as attention drifts elsewhere.
Attention to pandemic flu is not what it was at this time last year, but pandemic flu is not last year's story, she said. The threat has always been with us, and it will likely always be with us. If we hope to be ready the next time a killer virus emerges, we need a serious, sustained, long-term commitment.
As part of its own continuing commitment to assist in preparing for this serious threat, IDSA has compiled 12 principles for action on pandemic and seasonal influenza:
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