Via The Globe and Mail, André Picard has a thoughtful article: Health workers should make flu shot a point of pride. Excerpt (but read the whole thing):
Let’s be clear about one thing: It is perfectly reasonable to expect all health workers – from surgeons through hospital cleaners – to be vaccinated against influenza, to make it a condition of employment even.
It is no different than expecting them to wear gloves, dress in scrubs, wear masks (in some situations), wash their hands, and get hepatitis B vaccinations. These are all measures designed to protect patients from harm and, to a lesser extent, to protect employees themselves. Let’s not forget that patients who are hospitalized or need community health-care services are, by definition, at higher risk of infection.
Ethically and legally, the safety of patients trumps the civil rights of workers.
Case closed.
That being said, introducing legislation to make influenza vaccination mandatory is a lazy and heavy-handed way of achieving a desirable public-health goal.
If you can’t convince the vast majority of health workers to get a flu shot, then how can you expect the public to do so? In public health, communication and education are – and should be – much more effective tools than coercion.
