Mandatory influenza vaccinations in New York

I've heard that some states are considering mandatory influenza vaccinations for students much like they require other vaccinations for school attendance. I'm not aware that any states or school systems have done this yet for the influenza vaccine, but we're getting precariously close.

Meanwhile, I thought some of you might like to be aware that last month, the New York State Hospital Review and Planning Council and the Commissioner of Health passed a law stating that EVERY health care worker (defined as anyone coming into contact with patients - including volunteers and hospital workers) are REQUIRED to have the influenza vaccination by November 30, 2009 or they will lose their jobs. I already know one person whom this will affect. She objected to the mandatory vaccine and has been told that she WILL lose her job if she doesn't have submit.

It states that this will be the same process in future years and ALL health care workers in New York must receive an influenza vaccine every year by Nov. 30 - it's not just this year. If you want to read the text of the law yourself, it's here: http://www.health.state.ny.us/regulations/emergency/docs/2009-08-13_health_care_personnel_influenza_vaccination_requirements.pdf

The government has become increasingly hostile against people who choose not to vaccinate, but there is such a disregard for individual rights at this point that it's just frightening. I wouldn't be shocked if, within the next few years, there are soldiers at our doors forcing citizens to show their vaccination paperwork - including the flu vaccine - or being forced to go to "Quarantine Camps." For those who hope to rely on a "religious" or other "exemption," here is a comment I copied off the CDC website just now:

"Given the increasing number of states allowing philosophical exemptions to vaccines, at some point we are going to be forced to decide whether it is our inalienable right to catch and transmit potentially fatal infections."

It's too bad the Founding Fathers didn't anticipate the need to include a "right to bear infectious diseases" clause... Of course most of us don't want to make anyone sick, but that's why I STAY HOME - and keep my children home - when we're sick. And the one and only time my family had the flu vaccine was the ONLY year every one of us had the flu. We'll take our chances with no vaccination.

I will be really shocked if school systems don't start passing mandatory flu vaccine laws this fall, but it's also possible that the CDC - under the auspices of the WHO - will require mandatory influenza vaccines of everyone. If I hear of anything like this happening, I'll share the info as quickly as I know.

Sonya Haskins