Question

Supportive statement – The influenza vaccination should be mandatory for healthcare workers, because workers have an ethical duty to protect patients from harm.

Answer 1

Influenza vaccine of healthcare workers has been in place to prevent the transmission of disease. Vaccination plays a major role in infection prevention and is a major tool for patient safety and quality of care. The risk of transmitting infection from healthcare workers to patients during their duties is a big concern.

' Do not harm' is a line from Hippocratic oath. Health care workers begin there career by swearing this thought and other similar oaths like maimonides. This statement shows working in health care profession, they have to put patients first. Health care workers have to take care of the patients health, who approach them for care. So it's health care workers commitment to take immunization against influenza as a patient centered statergy.

Health care institutions support immunization for 2 reasons

1) to support professional obligation of health care workers to benefit patients and do not harm

2)to support shared obligation of health care workers and organization to protect public from infection.

Health care professionals have obligations like do not harm, do good, respect patient autonomy, treat all patients eqally, respect patient rights.

Public health ethics focus on maintaining a healthy community with good health. From this perspective it is mandatory ,health care workers get vaccinated against influenza for maintaining a sustainable and effective health care work force.

Mandatory health care worker vaccination help the health care workers to do their duties without the threat of undue harm caused by influenza and to ensure public trust in health care is well placed.