Nurses will sue New York over mandated vaccinations

By Joe Byrne
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 -- 7:17 pm
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vaccination Nurses will sue New York over mandated vaccinationsThe elderly, the young, and the frequently exposed are being advised to get vaccinated against H1N1 flu virus this year, due to predictions of a possible influenza epidemic. A new law in New York requires nurses and doctors to receive the vaccination by the end of November. A band of four nurses in Albany, however, is taking a stand against mandated vaccination.

“I have had more staff that have become ill after the flu vaccines this year than coworkers that have actually come down with the illness," Lorna Patterson, a nurse at Albany Medical Center's emergency room, told news network WTEN. Patterson is one of the nurses who is filing a lawsuit this week against the state. She and her coworkers hope that they can stop the state from enforcing the mandatory vaccinations.

Currently, New York is telling health care workers that if they aren't vaccinated by October 27th , they face a week's suspension without pay; any employee not vaccinated by the state deadline, November 30th, will be terminated.

"Receiving the vaccine doesn't mean you're not going to get the flu," Patterson adds. She claims that she has only received an influenza vaccination once in 28 years of nursing and for the most part prefers 'proper hygiene' over a vaccine.

A coworker, Katheryn Dupuis, feels similarly wary about the H1N1 vaccine. "We're going to lose our jobs if we do not get this vaccine," Dupuis says. "There are hundreds of coworkers of ours that feel just as strongly against the vaccine."

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The resistance to mandated vaccination stems from the speedy discovery, research, and approval process that the H1N1 vaccine passed through after this past year's swine flu scare. The nurses filing suit claim that the vaccine was “rushed”. Many vaccines face a year of testing and research before they are available to the public, but the H1N1 vaccine was put into massive production more quickly than most. One of the only vaccines to be required for health care workers is also one of the least tested.

So far, the nurses count 466 signatures on their circulating petitions against the state mandate. A rally on Wednesday on the steps of the state capitol is expected to grab more signatures and the attentions of lawmakers. More information on the mandated vaccination law and the nurses' protest can be found here.

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Story comments are below...

  • fascismforall
    who do these nurses think they are? what right do they have to interfere with pharmaceutical corporations profits? i mean, the nerve. they should just take it and get sick like everyone else.
  • straightuptruth
    What do you mean take it and get sick like everyone else? Repeat that sentence 3 time and if it still makes since to you, you may need to be evaluated. We need leaders not followers.
  • buckqjohnson
    Even the first responders and nurses aren't wanting or getting this vaccine, they know something and don't trust this thing at all.
  • texasaggie
    It isn't that they know something. On the contrary, they are totally ignorant. If this is characteristic of the mindset of the average US trained nurse, all of a sudden I can see the value of importing nurses from the third world where they actually got medical training.
  • timboslice
    You are totally ignorant of the state of nursing education worldwide. There are 42 schools in the Philippines who did not have a single nurse pass the national exam. That's out of only 92 in the country. You are an idiot to think that imported nurse-training farms are of higher quality than American nursing schools.
  • FREE MAN
    Notice how all the shills in here who are against the nurses have ALL used hegellian dialectic by bringing Beck, Limbaugh and even mention of racism in here! So obvious what their game is ;) Just ignore them - they are provocateurs! What's worse is most of them don't even realise they are exactly the kind of self-policing morons that proves that mind-control works!!! The others are paid! LOL! Idiots!

    I support freedom of choice! I support the nurses who should most definitely have the same freedoms ALL people deserve! Good luck to them!
  • krisuk
    I can't believe the comments on here. I thought some of you Americans had intelligence. No-one in their right mind would accept being vaccinated with a substance that hasn't had proper medical trialling and inspection. Sheesh. There are enough articles on the Internet to show clearly that this swine-flu lark is a big con. It isnt necessary to vaccinate against swine-flu; the virus is mild, it is not a killer and only has severe effects on those people who already have underlying medical conditions that make them weak and vulnerable to infections. The nurses are very brave and should be commended for their guts in standing up to bureaucrats. Their chances of "infecting" their patients directly is pretty small, one could catch a common cold more readily....and it's the "common cold" that kills more vulnerable folk than anything else, including swine flu. Nurses, stand your ground and employ some of our British fighting spirit.
  • richardlefew
    I totally support the nurses in their decision. This "pandemic" has been promised since the spring, and i find it very unsettling that Baxter pulled their patent for this specific vaccine over 1 year ago. I think this vaccination program is much more about profits for big pharma than anything else. The banks got their Tarp money, now the pharmacuticals want to get something out of this corrupt administration.

    Obama will do whatever his pupet masters direct him to do, so it's a free for all for all those with access. This is a handout to the big multi-nationals. My kids have opted out of all vaccines. This entire flu scare has done something positive. It opened my eyes to the fraudulent nature of vaccines in general.
  • voreason
    There is no reason to think the H1N1 vaccine will cause any more problems than any other influenza vaccine. The article is not correct in stating that seasonal flu vaccines are tested for a year before they are given. In fact, the decision on what antigens to include in the vaccine is made only ~6-9 months before the vaccine is distributed.

    Nurses are health professionals. They ought to know better. The miniscule risk of being vaccinated against H1N1 is nothing in comparison to the risk of getting the disease and passing it on to vulnerable patients.

    This H1N1 is a pandemic virus. These come along every 10 to 50 years, typically replacing the prevailing strains within a year or two. Instead of raising specious objections to this vaccine, the nurses should be lauding the fact that an effective vaccine was developed so rapidly. It is a testament to the advancements in virology, immunology, and structural biology over the past 40 years along with the robust nature of our public health system that this vaccine has even become available. And, yes, I plan to be vaccinated along with every member of my family.
  • Tara
    Robust nature?? Give me a break! I am a nurse.....and I am professional...and I do know better. I know that the flu vaccine is derived from an educated guess of what strains will be prevalent throughout the population. I know that the vaccine only protects against a few strains of the flu virus, not protecting against the many more that exist. I know that I have cared for patients who had died as a result of complications secondary to receiving the flu vaccine. I know that handwashing is the number one prevention of the flu. Perhaps we should require everyone entering the grocery store and touching the carts to show proof of vaccination before entry? I also know that there are far more contagious and deadly diseases that are contracted than the flu. VRE, MRSA, C-Diff anyone?? I suppose you support Obama's health care reform as well? We as health care professionals are being denied the basic right that we give YOU as our patients......control over your own body. Perhaps I should refuse to treat the asthmatic patient because they "ought to know better" than to smoke? Should I refuse chemotherapy to the person dying from skin cancer due to excessive sun exposure because they should have known better? It is not mandatory to receive a hepatitis or meningitis vaccine. Both are thousands of times more contagious than the flu. Perhaps we should say vaccinate against hepatitis, often times sexually transmitted, or we'll sexually sterilize you and prevent you from sexual interactions. It's along the same lines!! I haven't had a flu vaccine since I was a child and have not ONCE had the flu. I do what the CDC recommends.....WASH YOUR HANDS!!! I hope you don't show up in my ER. You're probably the same person that looks medical facts up on the internet and annoys your doctor about nonsense.
  • screaminjoe
    wonder how you would have faired with that attitude during the 1976 swine flu outbreak?
    mercury, an ingredient of the vaccine isn't healthy, and getting the vaccine is no guarantee that you will not get the swine flu.

    i pity you.
  • screaminjoe
    wonder how you would have faired with that attitude during the 1976 swine flu outbreak?
    mercury, an ingredient of the vaccine isn't healthy, and getting the vaccine is no guarantee that you will not get the swine flu.

    i pity you.
  • stevesmitty79
    Who do you work for, the CDC or White House blogging unit???
  • Danny
    Read the article again. NO place in the article does it state that the seasonal flu vaccines are tested for a year.

    It states that many vaccines are tested for over a year, but does not state the seasonal flu vaccines are.

    And how was the vaccine developed so quickly? Baxter labs had a patent on the H1N1 vaccine in august of 2008. It wasn't even seen in the wild until March 2009. Now you know how they have the vaccine so fast. They knew in advance.
  • Joseppi
    More people die from the flu each year than the h1n1flu
    How does being forced to take a vaccination work hand on hand with the usa constitution?
    Being vaccinated you would guess would be a choice
    Guillain Barre Syndrome-check it out because that baby you can find in a good ole h1n1
    flu vaccine
    An this H1N1pandemic has been occuring every year since the 1970s
    I might be wrong yet I thought this country was founded on personal choice and freedoms
    Finally yes nurses should at least figure out a way to protect themselves from any influenza- even one such as the H1N1 which has a death rate of .05%
  • Mark
    This is the wrong kind of government-run health care. I'm all for single payer, but against forcing medical care on someone without consent. Threatening their jobs, docking pay, that's beyond wrong, it's undemocratic.

    Shame on the Albany people who think this should be a mandate!
  • texasaggie
    Yeah, who the heck gives a darn about the patients that will die because they were infected by their nurses? They chose to go to the hospital so their death is their own fault. Don't blame the nurse who infected them because she was afraid of getting vaccinated.
  • canadian_gal
    The patient shouldn't get it if he was vaccinated right? so it doesn't matter if the nurses get vaccinated, if your so concerned about getting the swine flu then get vaccinated.....see what happens.
  • canadian_gal
    also if your vaccinated (and if the vaccine works like it should) you can still carry the germs to someone who ins't vaccinated and they can get it.
    unless YOU WASH YOUR HANDS and even your arms.
  • mattand
    @voreason: Thanks for your sanity. It's really unfortunate, but the anti-vax hysteria at sties like Raw Story and HuffPo is just as predictable as "Obama is a fascist" memes at Free Republic.

    The irony is that most of the people posting here probably despise Limbaugh, yet are lining up behind him on this one.

    Glenn Beck-esque "logic": it's just not for conservatives anymore.
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