Almost all NYU Winthrop Hospital employees are starting 2018 off vaccinated from the flu, according to the hospital.
This is the first time a Long Island hospital has made a flu vaccine mandatory for all hospital employees, according to Winthrop.
“We took this step because we believe that, except in rare cases, vaccination should not be a choice,” John Collins, president and CEO of NYU Winthrop Hospital, said in the release. “It is a moral imperative in healthcare.”
It is not required by New York State law for all hospital employees to be vaccinated. However, under New York State Sanitation Code all personnel who aren’t vaccinated must wear surgical masks in the presence of patients.
This year, 99.93 percent of Winthrop’s more than 8,750 employees were vaccinated, according to the release.
The mandatory vaccination program began in mid-October.
An Influence Exemption Review Board was established to impartially decide which employees can opt out based on bona fide medical or religious reasons, according to the release.
Five employees not exempt were not vaccinated.
Collins said that the number one priority in a hospital is the health and safety of patients.
“Every employee must take the steps necessary to protect those who have entrusted us with their care,” Collins said. “We are leading the way on Long Island, creating safer hospital spaces by mitigating the chance of any NYU Winthrop Hospital staff member conveying the flu virus to a Hospital patient or to a fellow worker.”
Employees were given until the end of 2017 to be vaccinated free of charge.
There was also a “Nursing Peer Program,” which allowed the nursing staff to vaccinate each other.
The vaccine is the best way to protect against the flu, according to the CDC. This year, the CDC recommended not to use the nasal spray flu vaccine. Only the injectable flu shots were recommended for use by the CDC.
There have been concerns about a new flu strain this year, the H3N2 virus, according to Winthrop. Although the vaccine is developed from prior-year flu strains, the CDC reported the vaccine is 32 percent effective against H3N2.
“While a yearly flu vaccine can’t provide resistance against every possible strain of flu that might develop, our experience is that for those succumbing to the flu despite the shot, the illness is generally less severe and the recovery quicker compared to those not vaccinated,” said Carol Cohan, RN, certified occupational health nurse-specialist, and director of NYU Winthrop’s Employee Health Department.
