This weekend, The Tyee published Why Your Nurse Didn't Have to Take a Flu Shot. It's based on British Columbia government documents, obtained through Freedom of Information, about the problems of getting healthcare workers to accept flu shots. Excerpt:
[BC Medical Officer of Health Dr. Perry] Kendall claimed studies in The Lancet, British Medical Journal, Canadian Medical Association Journal and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology supported mandatory immunization of health-care workers, but Dr. Tom Jefferson of the Cochrane Collaboration said reviews found several recent studies to be at a high risk of bias.I've heard of Jefferson before, and I've done a brief web search on him and Cochrane. Clearly he's a contrarian on the vaccination issue, and he's attracted some unsavoury allies among the anti-vaccination people.
But I don't know how seriously to take him. We've had a recent report on the inefficacy of the current H3N2 flu vaccine. If any healthcare professionals want to offer opinions on this issue in general, and Jefferson in particular, I'd be grateful to hear them.
