Only 42% of Hospitals Require Flu Vaccination

Less than half of U.S. hospitals surveyed require their staff to get the flu vaccine, although they work closely with patients who are highly susceptible to contracting the flu, according to a recent study.

Getting vaccinated against the flu is “strongly encouraged” among hospital staff, but there’s currently no national requirement.
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To find out how healthcare professionals are preventing the spread of the flu in their hospitals, researchers surveyed 386 non-VA hospitals and 77 VA hospitals in the U.S.

They found that only 42.7% of non-VA hospitals enforce a vaccination requirement, and only 1.3% of VA hospitals do. Also, 22% said their hospital administration wouldn’t mandate the vaccine, and 22% of non-VA hospitals said their administration “strongly encourages” vaccination. Fifteen percent of non-VA hospital and 27.6% of VA hospital respondents cited opposition from unions or staff as preventing the requirement.

Since the survey was conducted, the VA system has begun encouragement of universal vaccination by the year 2020, in line with recommendations written by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

“Vaccination of healthcare workers has been shown to significantly reduce patients’ risk of influenza and its complications, including pneumonia and death, compared with vaccination of patients alone,” researchers concluded. “To put it bluntly, American hospitals have a lot of work to do.”

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Greene MT, Fowler KE, Krein SL, et al. Influenza vaccination requirements for healthcare personnel in U.S. hospitals: results of a national survey.

Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. Published online November 27, 2015. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=10047788&fileId=S0899823X15002779.