Unions Protest Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccinations

BARRY LIEBOWITZ: Has qualms about program. Unions representing health-care workers in the city and state are protesting mandatory flu vaccinations for the H1N1 virus in a letter to Governor Paterson, city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley and state health officials, warning that “vaccinations alone are not guaranteed to stop infection.”

A recent emergency regulation enacted by the state Department of Health requires all state health-care workers to be vaccinated against swine flu. The H1N1 virus is expected to resurge in the coming months, and the vaccine has recently begun to arrive in hospitals.

Union Heads: No Panacea

Leaders of unions that are members of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health pandemic flu task force, such as District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, New York State Nurses Association CEO Tina Gerard, Public Employees Federation President Kenneth Brynien, Civil Service Employees Association President Danny Donohue and Doctors Council President Barry Liebowitz, have signed the letter of protest.

RICHARD F. DAINES: A patient health issue. It points out that “the effectiveness of the vaccine is between 30 and 50 percent,” and that the vaccine often merely blunts the flu’s impact rather than preventing it outright. “When these mildly ill health-care providers come to work, they will be shedding the virus and infecting patients if they don’t use appropriate infection control equipment and procedures.”

Instead of an approach focusing solely on vaccinations, the coalition of unions is seeking a broader approach to stopping spread of the disease. “Punitive sick-leave policies that encourage employees to work sick must be abolished,” the letter reads. “Education about and strict adherence to good hygiene practices for control of the spread of influenza must also be part of the program.”

Fear ‘Cure’ Will Make It Worse

Without such measures, “the regulation may actually contribute to the spread of disease and the infection of patients and staff,” NYCOSH warns. “A comprehensive approach is the most prudent course of action. The thrust of this regulation however, is apparently not to reduce the spread of the virus but to increase the use of vaccinations.”

The letter also warns about the effect on morale that mandatory vaccinations will have, saying the regulation “appears punitive rather than motivational. . . health-care workers may not show up for work if effective infection control is not in place.” Workers who fail to comply with the mandate will be dismissed, which “will effectively decrease the number of health-care workers needed to care for the anticipated surge of patients.”

The current rate of voluntary immunization among health-care workers is about 40 percent statewide, but NYCOSH said that programs that targeted objections to vaccination and offered support to workers would increase that voluntary number to 80 percent.

But State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines replied in a recent statement to workers that the 40-percent rates had been achieved only with “the most vigorous of voluntary programs” and a tougher approach was required for a virus as powerful as H1N1.

“High levels of staff immunity confer protection on those patients who cannot be or have not been effectively vaccinated themselves, while also allowing the institution to remain more fully staffed,” Mr. Daines said. “Safety lies in [patients] being treated in institutions and by health care personnel with the nearly 100-percent effective immunity rates seen with other long-mandated vaccinations for health care workers, such as measles and rubella.”

He urged workers to “reconfirm our noble commitment to the tradition of putting patients’ interests first” by supporting the mandatory vaccinations.

One local union leader who represents health-care workers who will not be on the front lines in hospitals is Motor Vehicle Operators Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal, who said he had an “adverse reaction” to a flu vaccine administered two years ago and feared that his workers were being used “as guinea pigs.”

“In my local, there’s a lot of concern among Health and Hospitals Corporation employees,” he said in a phone interview. “I would refuse if I was working in those agencies. I would be deathly afraid to get sick again.”