Lawmakers may consider a bill next session that would prevent companies from requiring employees to get a flu shot, posing a potential problem for hospitals, which are graded by the federal government on this issue.
“I’m not anti-vaccine,” said state Rep. John Burt, a Goffstown Republican, the lead sponsor of the proposed bill. “Vaccines for measles, etc., ones like those, are fine. And if you want the flu shot, I say knock yourself out. But it shouldn’t be forced on you.”
The bill is currently an LSR, or Legislative Service Request, and the wording is being tweaked by suggestions from other legislators before it goes to initial committee, Burt said.
“The bill is kind of open for any vaccines at this point, but my main goal is the (flu vaccine). . . . They’re saying that the bill is pretty broad – and will probably refine it down,” Burt said.
If the bill becomes law, it would pose a quandary for hospitals, since the percentage of employees getting the flu vaccine is one of the measurements made by the federal government under a report known as HAI, or health care-associated infections. That report is used as a measure of quality, which can affect reimbursement under Medicaid.
The HAI report counts infections that occur during certain procedures, including the insertion of catheters, and some surgeries, such as hysterectomies and surgery on the heart, colon and knees.
It also measures how well hospitals follow procedures that can lessen the rate of infections, including practices during central line insertions and use of antimicrobials during surgery. This is where flu shot compliance comes in, since vaccines lessen the chance that flu infections will be spread to people visiting health care facilities.
Burt said he thought the value of the flu shot was not great enough to make its usage mandatory, and that the requirement was driven by hospitals’ wish to collect federal funding rather than concern about employees.
Burt said “hundreds” of nurses and other health-care workers would support such a bill.
“The employee has rights at their job not to be forced for a vaccination,” he said.
The flu vaccine is probably the most difficult of the major vaccines to develop because the influenza virus changes so much from year to year. Producing tens of millions of doses of flu vaccine takes many months and must begin well before flu season starts, so the vaccine is developed before it is certain which influenza strains will be most common.
Last flu season, there was a mismatch and the vaccine did not combat a strain known as A-H3, which proved particularly virulent. A total of 49 deaths were attributed to influenza in New Hampshire during flu season, more than any time in the previous two decades.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everybody over the age of 6 months get an annual flu shot. In New Hampshire, the vaccine is free to everybody under the age of 18.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313, dbrooks@cmonitor.com, or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
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Just curious, have you reviewed the link between vaccine additive, nagalase, and autism, cancer and other immuno-suppressed diseases? Nagalase is only present in the human body in the presence of cancer or some viral infections. It is added to vaccines which is why there is so much autism.
Doctor compares cancer-causing nagalase to stealth bomber.
Nagalese blocks the GC protein from attaching itself to vitamin D, thus preventing the immune system from doing its job and therefore causing cancer and other serious diseases. GC protein is a protein in the body that’s used by macrophages in the body.
What it does is, macrophages in the body are the ones that kill cancer cells, they stop cytokines storms and can be involved in cytokines storms.
Without an active immune system, cancer and viral infections can spread rapidly.
Remarkably, there’s a significant amount of research available on nagalase and the GcMAF protein. Citing a chapter from The GcMAF Book by Dr. Tim Smith, MD, Dr. Broer said:
Nagalase is like a stealth bomber, the nagalase enzyme synthesized in or released from cancer cells or a virus particle pinpoints the GcMAF protein facilities on the surface of your T and B lymphocytes and simply wipes them out with an incredibly precise bomb.
Nagalase is being found in super high concentrations in autistic children
Dr. Bradstreet and his colleagues also learned that the nagalase protein was not present in children at birth but was somehow introduced into autistic children, they felt, during the immunization process.
Joan — thanks for the information and references here!
THOUSANDS of healthcare practitioners would support this bill. Looks like this is a local publication; I am reading this in NY where the state has mandated flu shots for healthcare workers. Let’s band together to prevent this, and perhaps reverse the decision to have hospital reimbursement tied to flu vax rate. There is NO evidence that vaccinating healthcare workers for flu prevents patients from contracting the flu.
When I became a doctor, I did not intend to sign my rights away to informed consent for medical treatment forever. Each flu shot is different. It has different rate of efficacy, a different concoction of antigens, a different tissue in which the virus incubates, etc., and it should be my right to weigh these risks and benefits without the coercion of potentially losing my job. I did not sign up for the military in which someone higher in my chain of command could tell me what to do. It’s disappointing that doctors are so unaware of medical informed consent laws and Constitutional rights.
Here Here! Great bill. Protecting the liberties of the citizens should always come before any financial considerations. It is unethical to force anyone to take shots, if they don’t want it. It is unethical to deny citizens access to public services, if the citizen chooses to not be vaccinated, or not fully vaccinate their children according to an ever expanding federal registry of recommended vaccines. Forcing workers to be customers is a dangerous idea, and should not even be considered in the first place. If you work at a liquor store, are you forced to take a drink every day? If you work at a hospital, do you sign away your informed consent rights? The history of informed consent rights come from the after math of ww2. Those whom do not know their history, are condemned to repeat it.
Here’s the thing about this bill (hb1463) it does not specifically say anything about flu shots. It’s general wording leaves it so that mandating any vaccine would not be allowed. Measles, whooping cough etc could not be mandated, even for NICU nurses, or daycare workers. This proposed bill would be a huge step in the wrong direction! NVIC and Laura Condon have crafted a sneaky attack using Rep Buton as a pawn in their game. This bill, if passed, would mean no employer could mandate any vaccines, it is not just flu shots! I would love to see a follow up to this, as it was debated last week.