Ethics : Mandated Flu Vaccinations For Healthcare Workers

Hi my name is Marah and today I am going to persuade you to get a Flu vaccination. I recently got a job working at Walgreens Pharmacy. Every day that I work I see people coming in to pick up their prescriptions that don’t look like the feel very great, with a tissue in one hand and their money in the other. No one wants to be sick, it’s not fun and it makes you feel like crap and you get absolutely nothing done. So it would only make sense if everyone was taking the precautionary measure in getting a flu shot. People should be lining up to get their vaccinations in order to prevent them from them getting sick and missing school, work or important events; but they aren’t, at Walgreens, we give maybe about 4 flu shots a day,

Vaccination was first introduced globally for small pox and later on extended to other communicable diseases which are now known as vaccine preventable disease. Vaccination is beneficial both for individuals and community. This bring us to the ethical dilemma - Vaccination of a healthy child with the intention of protecting both the individual child and the community at the same time exposing the child to the theoretical risk of exposure to disease products whether live, attenuated or killed. There was a time when people never questioned the government or their physicians. Now because of more public awareness and accessibility to medical information, they are questioning the safety aspects of vaccines.

Vaccines are among the most affordable and successful public health tools for preventing disease, disability, and sometimes death. Not only do they protect a vaccinated individual from developing a potentially deadly disease, but they also lead to protecting an entire community by reducing the spread of infectious agents. Although vaccines have many beneficial factors to it, there are still some problems in using them. Many vaccines may include side effects that can lead to autism or even death. Vaccinations have many benefits including the prevention of certain diseases but they also can cause issues and be very riskful in using them to treat or prevent a disease. Some of these issues include the ethic dilemma behind the subject.

Thesis: Immunizations are one of the most important medical advances in history. They have severely reduced the effects of dozens of viral infections and everyone should consider getting immunized.

Mandatory Influenza Vaccinations for healthcare providers can be a controversial topic for some and may propose a challenge to some provider’s ethical values and beliefs. The topic of mandatory vaccination for influenza (“flu”) has been widely studied and debated among professionals over several years. It is apparent that there is some movement towards a mandatory vaccination for influenza by healthcare institutions as the benefit out weighs the risk on several fronts. “Influenza infection is associated with 36,000 excess deaths and > 200,000 hospitalizations in the United States annually. It is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable death in the United States every year” (Babcock, Geminhart, Jones, Dunagan, & Woeltje, 2010, p. 459).

Medical facilities should not mandate flu vaccines without studies to prove decreases in transmission of the influenza virus. Facilities should continue to promote safe practices to prevent infections of all contagious illnesses.

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" (1920, C.E.A. Winslow). This therefore infers public health is the preventing and controlling of disease within communities, to prolong life and promote health through organised society. The keys aspects of public health …

To increase patient and hcw safety, health care workers should be mandate to get vaccination. Hcw are more at risk to get infection because of their contact with patient and then to spread it to patients, specially patients who are susceptible to the infection (CITATION). Influenza symptoms appears within 1-4 days. Before even hcw workes know that they have influenza infection and they are contagious, they may spread the infection to patient . Also, if hcw are infected, it will cause impact on their mental and physical functioning. Two randomly conducted studies have supported that mandatory influenza vaccination for hcw helped in decreasing death rate upto 44% in nursing home residents (Ottenberg, 2011). Potter et. al. identified that because of increased staff vaccination mortality rate reduced from 17% to 10% (Suillivan, 2010). The other fact which can effect patient safety due to low rate of vaccination is absenteeism of hcw during influenza epidemic.

Task 1Managing medical ethics is a fundamental part of a Manager’s role. It is the responsibility of the Manager to understand the guiding principles of medical ethics and apply them within the organisation

As a result, the burden placed on the health care system is significantly reduced. Therefore, people at a high risk of contracting influenza should seriously consider being vaccinated. Evidence suggests that educating high-risk people about the influenza vaccine is worthwhile. For example, during the influenza season of 2000-2001, 70% of adults 65 years of age and older received the flu shot. This suggests

There are many people who have a stake in the healthcare industry. There are several stakeholders such as the patients, healthcare providers, insurance companies, organizations, and those who enforce policy. The patients’ interest is the need of the best healthcare procedure to be healthy. As a healthcare provider the quality of care that can be useful for patients. Insurance companies sells health insurance to patients or employer that can be beneficial to providers. Organizations develop plans that are used for patients. Policymakers create and implement laws that to improve quality care to the public. These stakeholders can play a major role in the safety concern of patients. The concern for the safety issues of vaccination in children

Public health means so many things, in the past it was called “health for the poor”, “washing your hands”, and taking care of “vulnerable populations” (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2015 p. 4). In essence those are good definitions, but it is more than that definitions, public health is considered a

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this narrative review is to discuss what influenza is? And what the ethical and morality of flu vaccinations. This discussion is grounded whether or not flu vaccinations are necessary for individuals.

To the average individual, the word ‘vaccination’ means to prevent illness. Vaccinations have many advantages; they allow us to be less susceptible to a variety of illnesses and diseases. Many individuals believe that vaccinations should not be mandatory. However, the benefits from vaccinations greatly outweigh the risks from side effects. The judgments are factual and ethical and are supported by testing and research findings from multiple sources.

Imagine two children; one who has been completely vaccinated, and the other has never been vaccinated. Both children fall ill from the same virus, but the child who had been vaccinated fully recovers, while the child who was not passes away due to complications. That child’s life could have been saved if the child received the proper vaccinations. Ever since the invention of the Smallpox vaccine more than two centuries ago, there has been an abundance of controversy over the morality, ethics, effectiveness, and safety of vaccinations and immunizations. It has recently been argued whether laws should be introduced that render some or all vaccines mandatory for all children. Parents, health care specialists, nurses, teachers, and children