| American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Mandatory Influenza Vaccination of Health Care Personnel (HCP) |
| The AAFP supports annual mandatory influenza immunization for health care personnel (HCP) except for religious or medical reasons (not personal preferences). If HCP are not vaccinated, policies to adjust practice activities during flu season are appropriate (e.g. wear masks, refrain from direct patient care). |
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| Released: June 2011 |
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| American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Policy Statement–Recommendation
for Mandatory Influenza Immunization of All Health Care Personnel |
| The Academy has released a new
policy statement that recommends the implementation of a mandatory
influenza immunization policy for all health care personnel. |
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| Released: October 2010 |
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| American College of Physicians (ACP) Policy on Influenza
Vaccination of Health Care Workers |
| An annual influenza vaccine should
be required for every health care worker with direct patient care
activities, unless a medical contraindication to influenza
immunization exists or a religious objection to immunization
exists. If, however, health care workers invoke those exceptions,
they must still fulfill their ethical obligations to patients and
colleagues by not engaging in direct patient care activities if
flu-like symptoms are present. In addition, those health care
workers who cannot receive flu vaccines due to medical or
religious contraindications should either be re-assigned to
non-patient care areas during influenza season or wear a mask at
all times during influenza season in the context of patient care. |
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| Released: October 2010 |
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| American Hospital Association (AHA): AHA
Endorses Patient Safety Policies Requiring
Influenza Vaccination of Health Care Workers |
| To protect
the lives and welfare of patients and
hospital employees, the AHA's Board of
Trustees recently approved a policy
supporting mandatory patient safety policies
that require either influenza vaccination or
wearing a mask in the presence of patients
across health care settings during flu
season. This policy aims is to achieve the
highest possible level of protection. |
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| Released:
July 22, 2011 |
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| American Medical Directors Association
(AMDA) Position Statement: Mandatory
Immunization for Long Term Care Workers |
| AMDA -
Dedicated to Long Term Care Medicine
supports a mandatory annual influenza
vaccination for every long-term health care
worker who has direct patient contact unless
a medical contraindication or religious
objection exists. |
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| Released:
April 8, 2011; Effective Date: March 2011 |
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American Pharmacists Association (APhA):
Requiring Influenza Vaccination for All
Pharmacy Personnel |
| APhA
supports an annual influenza vaccination as
a condition of employment, training, or
volunteering, within an organization that
provides pharmacy services or operates a
pharmacy or pharmacy department (unless a
valid medical or religious reason precludes
vaccination). |
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| Released:
April 2011 |
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| American Public Health Association (APHA)
Policy Statement: Annual Influenza
Vaccination Requirements for Health Workers |
| Key Points: |
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Urges providers, employers, and other
organizations to implement comprehensive
infection control programs that include
vaccination requirements along with
vaccination training and education,
respiratory protection, standard
respiratory precautions, and
housekeeping routines in keeping with
infection control standards. |
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Emphasizes that vaccination of health
workers is important not only for
patient safety but also for their own
protection and calls for strengthening
both the health sector's commitment to
safe working environments and its
capacity to achieve national goals for
protecting the health workforce from
influenza through education and
convenient access to employer-provided
vaccination. |
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Strongly recommends that institutions
that train health professionals, deliver
health care, or provide laboratory or
other medical support services require
immunizations for personnel at risk for
contracting or transmitting
vaccine-preventable illnesses. |
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Encourages institutional, employer, and
public health policy to require
influenza vaccination of all health
workers as a precondition of employment
and thereafter on an annual basis,
unless a medical contraindication
recognized in national guidelines is
documented in the worker's health
record. An educational component should
be created for health workers to learn
about vaccine safety science. |
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| Released:
April 2011; Policy date: November 2010 |
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| Association for Professionals in Infection
Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC):
Influenza Vaccination Should Be a Condition
of Employment for Healthcare Personnel,
Unless Medically Contraindicated |
| Recommendation: Therefore, APIC recommends
that acute care hospitals, long term care,
and other facilities that employ healthcare
personnel require annual influenza
immunization as a condition of employment
unless there are compelling medical
contraindications. This requirement should
be part of a comprehensive strategy which
incorporates all of the recommendations for
influenza vaccination of HCP of the
Healthcare Infection Control Practices
Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
for influenza vaccination of HCP. An
essential part of this comprehensive
strategy includes strict attention to
important infection prevention practices
such as hand hygiene and respiratory
etiquette. Individuals exempted from annual
vaccination due to medical contraindications
must be educated on the importance of
careful adherence to all of the non-vaccine
related HICPAC prevention strategies,
including hand hygiene and cough etiquette.
Further, they may be required to wear a
surgical mask when contact with patients or susceptible employees is likely.
Additionally, strong leadership commitment
that takes into account and collaboratively
addresses concerns by employees and the
organizations representing them is essential
to providing the necessary support and
resources to implement such a comprehensive
program. |
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| Released:
February 2011 |
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| Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Policy on Mandatory
Influenza Immunization of Heath Care Workers |
| IDSA supports universal
immunization of health care workers (HCWs) against influenza by
health care institutions (inpatient and outpatient) through
mandatory vaccination programs as these programs are likely to be
the most effective means to protect patients against the
transmission of influenza by HCWs. Revised to
specify that annual influenza vaccination should be a condition of
initial and continued employment and/or professional privilege;
and to remove declination for religious reasons. |
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| Revised: July 28, 2010 |
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| National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO): Influenza Vaccinations for Healthcare Personnel Policy |
| NACCHO urges healthcare employers and local health departments (LHDs) to require influenza vaccination for
all staff as a condition of employment. This mandate is necessary to achieve the Healthy People 2020 annual goal of 90 percent influenza
vaccine coverage for healthcare personnel. Healthcare personnel is defined as anyone who works or volunteers in a healthcare setting and/or
an LHD whose job may call for direct patient contact. |
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| Implementation date: November 2012 |
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| National Business Group on Health: Hospitals Should Require Flu Vaccination for all Personnel to Protect Patients’ Health and Their Own Health |
| Employees who invoke either of these exemptions should not engage in direct patient care if they have flu-like symptoms. When seemingly healthy, hospitals should either: |
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Reassign these employees to non-patient care areas; or |
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Require them to wear masks at all times during flu season when delivering care to patients |
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| Hospital personnel receiving annual flu vaccinations should include: |
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All personnel who receive a direct paycheck from the hospital facility; |
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Credentialed non-employees including licensed, independent practitioners affiliated with the hospital, but not necessarily on the payroll; and |
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Other non-credentialed, non-employee personnel including health professional students, volunteers, contract employees, construction workers, and medical or pharmaceutical vendors. |
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| Released: October 18,
2011 |
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| National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) |
| NFID supports the public
statements supporting mandatory healthcare worker influenza
vaccination policies from AAP, IDSA and SHEA. Meaningful increases
in healthcare worker immunization rates are essential to patient
safety, a hallmark of our healthcare system. |
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| Released: September 23, 2010 |
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| National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) Supports Mandatory Flu
Vaccinations for Healthcare Workers |
| NPSF recognizes
vaccine-preventable diseases as a matter of patient safety and
supports mandatory influenza vaccination of health care workers to
protect the health of patients, health care workers, and the
community. NPSF appreciates that where vaccination is not possible
for any reason, due to unavailability or medical contraindications
of potential vaccine recipients, hospitals and healthcare
professionals must use all available alternatives to avoid
transmission to patients and coworkers including masks and
adjusting job responsibilities. |
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| Released: November 18, 2009 |
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| Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Position
Paper: Influenza Vaccination of Healthcare Personnel |
| SHEA views influenza vaccination
of HCP as a core patient and HCP safety practice with which
noncompliance should not be tolerated. It is the professional and
ethical responsibility of HCP and the institutions within which
they work to prevent the spread of infectious pathogens to their
patients through evidence‐based infection prevention practices,
including influenza vaccination. Therefore, for the safety of both
patients and HCP, SHEA endorses a policy in which annual influenza
vaccination is a condition of both initial and continued HCP
employment and/or professional privileges. The implementation of
this policy should be part of a multifaceted, comprehensive
influenza infection control program; it must have full, visible
leadership support with the expectation for influenza vaccination
fully and clearly communicated to all existing and applicant HCP;
and it must have ample resources and support to implement and to
sustain the HCP vaccination program. This recommendation applies
to all HCP working in all healthcare settings, regardless of
whether the HCP have direct patient contact or whether the HCP are
directly employed by the facility. It also applies to all
students, volunteers, and contract workers. SHEA recommends that
only exemptions due to recognized medical contraindications to
influenza vaccination be considered. |
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| Released: August 31, 2010 |
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