Mandatory Vaccination or Termination of Employment

Abstract

The H1N1 outbreak of 2009 brought global attention to the necessity of seasonal vaccination. Following swine flu emergency declaration in multiple states, hospitals around the country began implementing mandates for employees' vaccination for flu. Health care workers are faced with either getting the shot or losing their jobs. In recent years, the requirements are not imposed to only health care workers but also to vendors who visit hospitals, airline workers, and anyone whose occupation exposes them to large population such as military personnel and home health workers. Currently, there is no consistency in laws and policies among different states regarding immunizations. According to the Center of Disease Control, some states have statutory vaccination requirements for health care employees, some have only recommendations, some have requirement and recommendation, and about 20 have none at all, leaving the responsibility entirely to the hospital policy. The human resource department is responsible for providing, distributing, implementing, and enforcing the vaccination policy among the employees. In the case of hospital required vaccination, employees are governed by a mixture of employment policies and state laws. This presentation examines the opposing vaccination viewpoints as well as the indirect legal arguments to protect the employment of those who refuse the vaccines.