Nanny refuses to get flu shot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll repeat what I posted before:

The parent that asks a nanny for immunization is doing the nanny a favor. Immunization is for one's own protection. If the nanny is vaccinated she still can carry the disease and pass it to the newborn not vaccinated. The same way parents will carry the disease home and not get sick if they're vaccinated too.

And the flu shot won't protect anybody from getting the virus. You still get the virus, you pass it but your symptoms will be milder.

If you want your child protected, keep it in a bubble.

Could you please provide sources for this information - this is different from what I have found in my own research, and I would be interested to see the article you took this from. Thanks!

Ok let me give the question back to you... Which sources tell you that if you get a vaccine it will prevent you from passing it?
Right now the only source I can think of is closed exclusively available for students at my school - it's inside our system.
Like other people like to say, it's easy enough to use google.

[Anonymous]

"Right now the only source I can think of is closed exclusively available for students at my school - it's inside our system. "

I'm not the PP but are we debating with an 18-24 year old? This would explain alot....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Right now the only source I can think of is closed exclusively available for students at my school - it's inside our system. "

I'm not the PP but are we debating with an 18-24 year old? This would explain alot....

Sorry to inform you but I'm away over 30 and pursuing a 3rd career.
Any objection?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here:

And just to make you feel better...a quote from the Washington post recently.

"Only about half of health-care workers get flu shots during a typical flu season, even though their patients tend to be more vulnerable to infection and potentially life-threatening complications."

Hospital and employers in general can require anything they want from their employees.

For example, New York is the first state in the country to mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers.

No vaccine = no job ... no excuses.

Not so. Sorry.

Also from the same article: "MedStar, the state of New York, HCA and other entities requiring vaccination are allowing exemptions for employees who have medical reasons for not getting vaccinated, such as egg allergies or risk factors for a rare complication known as Guilliame-Barre syndrome. MedStar and HCA and others also allow workers with religious objections to be exempted."

My friend is a health educator in NY state - does not even deal with high risk patients - and was told she needed to get the shot or she would be fired. Obviously some people can get a religious exemption but the vast majority will get the shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Right now the only source I can think of is closed exclusively available for students at my school - it's inside our system. "

I'm not the PP but are we debating with an 18-24 year old? This would explain alot....

You really believe that just because you had the flu shot you won't pass the bug if you shake hands first with a person with the flu who sneezed on their hands and after with a person without it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll repeat what I posted before:

The parent that asks a nanny for immunization is doing the nanny a favor. Immunization is for one's own protection. If the nanny is vaccinated she still can carry the disease and pass it to the newborn not vaccinated. The same way parents will carry the disease home and not get sick if they're vaccinated too.

And the flu shot won't protect anybody from getting the virus. You still get the virus, you pass it but your symptoms will be milder.

If you want your child protected, keep it in a bubble.

Could you please provide sources for this information - this is different from what I have found in my own research, and I would be interested to see the article you took this from. Thanks!

Ok let me give the question back to you... Which sources tell you that if you get a vaccine it will prevent you from passing it?
Right now the only source I can think of is closed exclusively available for students at my school - it's inside our system.
Like other people like to say, it's easy enough to use google.

I am the poster that asked for your sources. My pediatrician and a friend who is an RN specializing in infectious disease have told me that the vaccine greatly reduces (but doesn't completely eliminate) the chances of passing the flu to someone else. Basically, I think that the virus (assuming it is a strain the vaccine is effective for) doesn't live in your body and can't be passed on by coughing/sneezing, but could be passed on if you touch something contaminated and then pass those germs to someone else. However, if you can indeed point me to a study in a reputable peer-reviewed journal that says otherwise, I would absolutely believe that over the word of an individual healthcare provider. I have, or can get, access to pretty much every major medical journal out there, so all you need to provide is a cite - I understand that you can't actually link the article. As for google, I do not consider that an authoritative medical source.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here:

And just to make you feel better...a quote from the Washington post recently.

"Only about half of health-care workers get flu shots during a typical flu season, even though their patients tend to be more vulnerable to infection and potentially life-threatening complications."

Hospital and employers in general can require anything they want from their employees.

For example, New York is the first state in the country to mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers.

No vaccine = no job ... no excuses.

Not so. Sorry.

Also from the same article: "MedStar, the state of New York, HCA and other entities requiring vaccination are allowing exemptions for employees who have medical reasons for not getting vaccinated, such as egg allergies or risk factors for a rare complication known as Guilliame-Barre syndrome. MedStar and HCA and others also allow workers with religious objections to be exempted."

My friend is a health educator in NY state - does not even deal with high risk patients - and was told she needed to get the shot or she would be fired. Obviously some people can get a religious exemption but the vast majority will get the shot.

Maybe. But I suspect a lot of people will be claiming exemptions where they haven't in the past.

[Anonymous]

"You really believe that just because you had the flu shot you won't pass the bug if you shake hands first with a person with the flu who sneezed on their hands and after with a person without it? "

Are you serious? The recommendation is to get the vaccine and practice good sanitation. Can you accomplish two tasks? Its not that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll repeat what I posted before:

The parent that asks a nanny for immunization is doing the nanny a favor. Immunization is for one's own protection. If the nanny is vaccinated she still can carry the disease and pass it to the newborn not vaccinated. The same way parents will carry the disease home and not get sick if they're vaccinated too.

And the flu shot won't protect anybody from getting the virus. You still get the virus, you pass it but your symptoms will be milder.

If you want your child protected, keep it in a bubble.

Could you please provide sources for this information - this is different from what I have found in my own research, and I would be interested to see the article you took this from. Thanks!

Ok let me give the question back to you... Which sources tell you that if you get a vaccine it will prevent you from passing it?
Right now the only source I can think of is closed exclusively available for students at my school - it's inside our system.
Like other people like to say, it's easy enough to use google.

I am the poster that asked for your sources. My pediatrician and a friend who is an RN specializing in infectious disease have told me that the vaccine greatly reduces (but doesn't completely eliminate) the chances of passing the flu to someone else. Basically, I think that the virus (assuming it is a strain the vaccine is effective for) doesn't live in your body and can't be passed on by coughing/sneezing, but could be passed on if you touch something contaminated and then pass those germs to someone else. However, if you can indeed point me to a study in a reputable peer-reviewed journal that says otherwise, I would absolutely believe that over the word of an individual healthcare provider. I have, or can get, access to pretty much every major medical journal out there, so all you need to provide is a cite - I understand that you can't actually link the article. As for google, I do not consider that an authoritative medical source.

Google will LEAD you to other sources.
So we agree that it will greatly reduce the chances of the person getting sick and passing it on but it won't extinguish the chances.
This has been my point all along.
Parents all over think that the vaccinated nanny won't contaminate their children what is not true.
Besides vaccination, good hygiene should be maintained in order to keep the little ones healthy.

[Anonymous]

OP-what were the specific reasons the nanny refused the shot?

[Anonymous]

This thread highlights some of the misconceptions about the flu and how it affects different populations.

I got a flu shot but still got sick.

For adults, it is difficult to understand whether you have a cold, the flu, bronchitus, or pneumonia and if you have not had kids you probably have never heard of RSV. Symptoms can overlap and express themselves differently in adults and most healthy adults do not or do not need to seek medical treatment when the have one of these illnesses. Doctors will go to more lengths to test for specific bacterial infections as the antiobiotic therapy would change depending on the bacteria but there is less value or even ability to test for the particular virus. For an adult a doctor is usually looking for a secondary bacterial infections or secondary pneumonia. It is easy to get the flu shot and then come down with some other virus that season and think you had the flu when it was something else. It is also common, though not sure why, for people to confuse flu or what they call the stomach flu with food borne illness or gastrointestinal viruses.

There are also are different strains of the flu. The seasonal flu vaccine is determined based on which strains are circulating. The vaccine is effective against the strains it was developed against but another strain may emerge. Influenza is one of the more serious but also more difficult viruses to predict. Someone can catch the additional strain if it was not included in the vaccine. If you were never vaccinated though there is a good chance that you will catch both at different times so your shot was not a waste.

Why should I get a flu shot if there are so many other viruses going around and the infant will catch something sooner or later anyway?

The flu is more dangerous to an infant than an adult. In a seasonal flu the deaths are almost always in children under 2, the elderly, or individuals with compromised immune systems. The flu affects the respiratory system and the infected person who can not fight it off dies from respiratory failure. Infants experiencing respiratory distress are often admitted to the hospital and given breathing assistance (CPAP or vent).

Infants present a second complication with their reaction to high fevers. Flu, unlike some other viruses, carries a high fever response and fast rate change in infants. Unlike adults children can withstand very high fevers (105) and have a tendency to react to flu with a higher fever than an adult would experience. A febrile seizure results when the rate change is fast as in the flu and the child's body reacts by shutting down. This involves convulsions, breathing stops, and the baby can turn blue. This is not uncommon. While some ERs will test for flu and watch the child to see if the child responds to fever reducers, it is more standard to do a precautionary spinal tap. I'm not sure if this is more traumatic to the child or parent but it certainly is not pleasant procedure.

If you are not going to lock the baby in a bubble why should I get a shot?

A non-mobile infant is most likely going to be exposed by an infected adult who comes into contact with him/her. If an adult is infected and has a high viral count as they would in the days before symptoms and into symptom range, then there is a very high chance it will be transmitted to the infant. A cough, a sneeze or even kissing the babies hands which they put in their mouths transmits an airborne virus. An adult who is not infected can use hand sanitizing to protect against transmission from surfaces but this is much harder for someone who is infected and producing the virus. They are depositing it on the surfaces that the infants puts in his/her mouth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here:

And just to make you feel better...a quote from the Washington post recently.

"Only about half of health-care workers get flu shots during a typical flu season, even though their patients tend to be more vulnerable to infection and potentially life-threatening complications."

Hospital and employers in general can require anything they want from their employees.

For example, New York is the first state in the country to mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers.

No vaccine = no job ... no excuses.

Not so. Sorry.

Also from the same article: "MedStar, the state of New York, HCA and other entities requiring vaccination are allowing exemptions for employees who have medical reasons for not getting vaccinated, such as egg allergies or risk factors for a rare complication known as Guilliame-Barre syndrome. MedStar and HCA and others also allow workers with religious objections to be exempted."

My friend is a health educator in NY state - does not even deal with high risk patients - and was told she needed to get the shot or she would be fired. Obviously some people can get a religious exemption but the vast majority will get the shot.

Maybe. But I suspect a lot of people will be claiming exemptions where they haven't in the past.

Uh, doubt it. Especially those with kids. If I was going to be around sick people and could get a vaccine, I would.

It's a benefit vs. harm thing. If you are a mom of young children, risk of vaccine harm is much less than risk of getting the flu and passing it on to them.

[Anonymous]

Moral of the story, what a mean nanny for thinking she has say in the matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moral of the story, what a mean nanny for thinking she has say in the matter

The nanny has a say in whether or not she will get the flu shot. She does not have a say in whether a parent will hire or continue to employ an unvaccinated caregiver for their child.

[Anonymous]

Is this entirely legal?
Are nannies not entitled to HIPAA protection?