Mandatory Vaccination Policy for Healthcare Workers in New Jersey

By John Lewis II and Glenn Smith

Op –Ed

An Influenza Mandatory Vaccination Policy for All Healthcare Workers in New Jersey should be a requirement and made a state law. Here in the U. S. thirty-three states have established a mandatory vaccination policy for healthcare workers. New Jersey is not one of them. Some healthcare workers refrain or refuse from being vaccinated with the flu vaccine.

The staggering number of reported cases reported in NJ for the 2017-2018 flu seasonwere up to 14,065 cases. Flu season had not been over yet. Healthcare workers/professionals are at high risk for exposure and contact to serious, and sometimes even deadly diseases. This would be a vitally important measure to help “prevent healthcare-associated transmission of seasonal flu”.

There is always that possibility when a particular flu virus becomes a fast-spreading lethal virus spiraling into a massive pandemic such as the Spanish flu in 1918 resulting in many deaths. We should be fully prepared with adequate control measures in place.

Influenza or flu according to CDC (Center for Disease Control) can be defined as “A contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death”.

In 2009 schools, hospitals, clinics and the general population started to panic when the H1N1 “Swine Flu” which was “a mix of bird, swine and human flu” spread rapidly becoming a global pandemic. An alarming number of cases were reported and should be a real public concern to all of us.

According to case reports, approximately 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (8868-18,306) occurred in the United States alone due to pH1N1. The discussions on mandating a policy for Healthcare Workers (HCWs) to be vaccinated every year has been an ongoing debate going as far back as 1981.

Healthcare workers are in a positon of higher risk due to having physical contact and exposure working directly with patients and the general population. Vaccines can help reduce a HCW’s chance of getting the virus or spreading it to others. Handling materials or working directly with patients identified as high risk populations as well as anyone with certain medical conditions is a real concern. These may include and not limited to pregnant women, adult population age 65 years and older, children 5 years and under, and those who may a have an already immunocompromised system such as patients with organ transplants, HIV, cancer or diabetes just to name a few.

Viral diseases can be potentially dangerous leaping from one geographical zone or area to the next in and around the U.S and over to other countries thousands of miles away. Transmission occurs from person to person when droplets land in a person’s mouth or nose or possibly inhaled by talking, coughing, sneezing and poor hand washing leaving behind the viral germ.Air and railway traveling passengers who carry the virus hundreds and thousands of miles cause the spread of the virus in other places worldwide.

There is the chance every season a new flu virus may emerge in which humans would have very little if any immunity to fight against it whether vaccinated or not. Let’s be proactive and vaccinate all healthcare workers in New Jersey against the viral strains that we know are lurking.A clear key message is that it is vitally important to implement controlled activities to prepare for another possible influenza pandemic if the time comes. Help protect the human population before it becomes a worldwide health crisis. The influenza virus has no boundaries.