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Association calls for mandatory flu shots

Infection Control Monitor, January 26, 2007

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) (www.idsociety.org) yesterday called for all physicians, nurses, and other health workers who care for patients to be vaccinated against influenza or decline the annual shot in writing.

At a January 25 press conference, the group said it was making the strongest call yet to plug "a critical weakness in the nation's flu preparations." The ISDA urged Congress and the Bush administration to press for mandatory flu shots as it released a set of 12 recommendations to prepare for an influenza pandemic, as well to improve responses to the perennial threat of seasonal influenza.

"It's our professional duty to first do no harm," said Andrew T. Pavia, MD, chair of IDSA's National and Global Public Health Committee. "Voluntary systems haven't brought immunization rates up far enough. For the sake of our patients, all healthcare workers must get a flu shot every year or they must be required to opt out in writing." The ISDA said that each year fewer than two in five healthcare workers get a flu shot.

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