Employee vaccinations up, flu outbreaks down

It would come as no surprise to us to learn that the number of flu outbreaks has decreased in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities whose workers have higher rates of vaccination. And that s exactly what a recent study found: A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that, during the 2006 to 2008 influenza seasons, long-term care facilities with 60 percent vaccination coverage of such employees experienced no outbreaks, compared to a coverage rate of only 51 percent at facilities where there were outbreaks.

During the course of this two-year study just published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the CDC s Epidemic Intelligence Service looked at the association between direct-care employee vaccination levels and outbreaks of influenza detected and reported across 75 long-term care facilities in New Mexico. Perhaps just as significant as the correlation between outbreaks and employee vaccination coverage was the finding that, even in facilities with increased coverage among residents, the coverage among employees had to be high in order to prevent outbreaks. As we ve observed before, vaccination among health care workers is key to preventing outbreaks.

Healthcare workers should be required, as a condition of employment, to be vaccinated against influenza, to protect the vulnerable patients they come in contact with, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. There is simply no reason they should refuse it s a clearly necessary measure.