vax question for nurses and other hospital workers

[mommykmm]

I've recently started a job as a nurse aide at a local hospital. Management has been pushing me to get a Hep B and flu shot. We are selective/delayed vaxxers who, for our children, have put any further vaxes on hold indefinitely. (Two of my three children are vax damaged.) So, I'm wondering what other like-minded people who work in hospitals might have to say to help me decide whether continuing to decline the shots for myself is in my best interest. Please enlighten me.

[amnesiac]

The idea behind flu shots for healthcare workers isn't so much for your personal protection as it is for your patients'. I did choose to complete the hep B series. There are a couple of recent threads about that subject in the main vax forum. I can't think of where they are off the top of my head but I'll try to find them later if you can't find them.

[mangosink0]

I got the hep B series before I knew any better. I don't think I'd get it now bc I work in a very low risk area. I have gotten flu shots in the past not to protect my patients but when I've had an infant at home. Probably won't get one this year and was probably unneccessary the years I did do it.

[mumkenna&lucas]

I have the HepB vaccine, but not the flu..

[columbusmomma]

Originally Posted by mumkenna&lucas

I have the HepB vaccine, but not the flu..

Me too

[CookieMonsterMommy]

I got the Hep B long ago...in Jr High or something. I work OB, and all my patients are screened for Hep B, so I'm not sure I'd get it if I hadn't in the past.

I refuse the flu shot. Remind management that the influenza shot (according to the CDC and as evidenced in its package insert) is only 30-40% effective in preventing influenza. And it contains thimerisol and formadehyde. Nope, no dice.

[GooeyRN]

I got the Hep B shot but not the flu shot. I say I am allergic to it. (I do have an allergy to feathers, so really I shouldn't get it anyway) I don't regret getting the Hep B shot. I got blood on me too many times. Hep B is something I don't want to get! It scares me. I think the flu shot is mostly so mass quantities of hospital workers aren't calling out sick at the same time and also so it isn't spread to patients.

[canuckgal]

I agree with GooeyRN

I work as an RN in OB/surgery, and I too have gotten blood on me as well too many times to count, and also have gotten the Hep B series for myself. I don't know where I stand with vaccinating my kids. They are up to date with all their shots. I believe that vacc's in Canada for kids do not have thiomermosal. I did get the hep B series for my kids (I lived in Northern Canada...basically the Arctic) when they were born, and in that area it is given the day of birth, then at 2 and 4 months, as it was considered pretty endemic up there. If I was not a health care worker, I would not have done it however as dh and I are both monogamous (as far as I know ) and are not IV drug users, etc.

I have never got a flu vaccine, however.

Tina

[MaricopaMom]

I got the Hep B shot in college. No regrets at all. Like the previous posters, I've had blood on me too many times. Hep B is far easier to contract than HIV. I work in a high risk area (NICU) where Hep B status is often unknown.

They offer the flu shot, but I don't get it. Last time I got it, I was so sick. So never again.

[d&xmommy]

I am a RN in the emergency room. I got the hep B in school and do not regret it. I work in a high risk area with many high risk patients and have gotten blood on myself.

I have never received the flu vax nor have my kids. Never plan on getting or giving them either.

[T&D2005]

I got the Hep B shot before I knew better so I'm already fully vax for it right now. Needle sticks happen so I'd have to research it a lot more IF I had to decide all over again. I flat out refused the flu shot this year and always have. I am big on alternative medicines and vitamins so I'll just stock up on Vit C :-)