Local health officials say a medical journal study that alleges the flu shot is only 59% effective will not deter their efforts to encourage vaccination among health care workers.
“It’s better to have some protection than none at all,” said Jerome Quenneville, chief executive officer of Groves hospital in Fergus and North Wellington Health Care (NWHC), which operates the Palmerston and District Hospital and Louise Marshall hospital in Mount Forest.
Last week the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) took a stance against mandatory flu shots for health care workers, citing a 2011 study in The Lancet medical journal that states the efficacy of the vaccine is only 59%.
Suggestions that anyone immunized will be protected from the flu are misleading, said Michael Hurley, president of the OCHU, a division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) that represents over 30,000 Ontario health care workers.
“To target health care workers and take away their right to choose by making the flu shot mandatory, is misdirected in the face of recent evidence that 41 per cent of people who get a flu vaccine receive no protection against the flu,” Hurley said in a press release.
Quenneville said workers at Groves hospital and the two NWHC hospitals are not forced to receive the annual vaccine.
“We strongly encourage flu shots, but it’s voluntary,” he told the Advertiser. He scoffed at the suggestion that The Lancet study could be used as justification for hospital staff not to receive a flu shot.
“Not taking it – how effective is that?” Quenneville asked rhetorically.
He said the flu shot is just one of many precautions hospital workers can take to protect themselves and patients from a number of infectious diseases.
Last week the U.S.-based Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also argued against mandatory shots because they “may provide health care workers, health care facility management and patients with an unwarranted sense of security.
“Furthermore, the current influenza vaccine is no magic bullet. The current state of influenza vaccine technology requires annual reformulation and revaccination and the efficacy is quite variable.”
But health care officials remain steadfast in their promotion of flu vaccination.
“We encourage all health care workers to get the flu shot,” said Chuck Ferguson, communications manager with Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health (WDGPH).
He said while each health care facility has its own vaccination policy, the flu shot is mandatory for health unit employees.
“It’s part of your employment contract here,” Ferguson explained. “Our rationale is that the flu vaccine is still the best way to protect yourself against the flu.”
He added vaccination is particularly important for health care workers because it helps protect those who are most vulnerable to the disease, including the elderly, very young and others with compromised immune systems.
On Tuesday Dr. Gregory Taylor, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, issued a similar statement.
“It’s especially important for … high risk individuals and those at close contact with them such as health care workers, household contacts and caregivers, to protect themselves from the flu,” said Taylor.
“The flu shot is safe and effective and offers the best protection against the flu virus.”
As of Monday, Quenneville estimated about half of all workers in the three Wellington County hospitals had received a flu shot, but he noted that does not include those who went to a doctor or pharmacy to be vaccinated.
A report released earlier this year by WDGPH indicated that 66% of health care workers in local hospitals and nursing and retirement homes were vaccinated during the 2011-12 flu season. That figure was up almost 11% from the previous year, but still well short of the 80% target.
At the time, Janice Walters, WDGPH manager of control of infectious diseases and the author of the report, said the reason some workers did not receive the flu shot ranged from a self-perceived resiliency to the flu to a belief the shot does not work.
“People are under the perception that it’s for themselves, but as health care workers we’re encouraging them to get immunized to protect their patients,” Walters said.
The average rates for staff immunization last year in the unit’s catchment area were 71% in long-term care homes, 74% in retirement homes and 55% in hospitals.
Last year just over 50% of workers at Groves hospital were vaccinated during the 2011-12 flu season, while NWHC hospitals had a rate of just over 60%.
Quenneville said, “We’d like to see 100%, to be honest, but realizing it’s voluntary, we try to get as many as possible vaccinated.”
Ferguson agreed.
“There’s just no better way to protect yourself,” he said.
