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Source: http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9006416.html
N.S. public health chief scolds health workers who don't get flu shots
By DAVID JACKSON Provincial Reporter
Wed. Apr 23 - 4:37 PM
Only half of the province?s health-care workers get their flu shots, and the rest should know better, chief public health officer Dr. Robert Strang said Wednesday.
Dr. Strang said it seems workers may not realize the benefits to themselves and patients.
?If there?s a vaccine out there that will protect them, as well as minimize the chances of them transmitting an infection to a patient, they have a professional responsibility to take advantage of and get immunized,? Dr. Strang said after speaking to the public accounts committee.
Dr. Strang stopped short of advocating mandatory immunizations, something no other province has. Rather, he said officials must do more to educate the workers about getting themselves immunized.
Dr. Strang said the 50 per cent figure is an average, and noted most workers in long-term care facilities are immunized. The capital district health authority said that in the 2007-08 flu season, 34 per cent of employees got a flu shot, which protects against only certain strains of the virus.
Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union president Joan Jessome said the union doesn?t have a position on whether members should get the shot. She said it?s up to the individual, but government should make the shots free and easily accessible. The province already does pay for health-care workers? shots.
Immunization came up during the meeting as MLAs asked senior Health Promotion and Protection staff about the auditor general?s criticism of its handling of the mumps outbreak, which started in February last year.
Only 40 per cent of health-care workers got the mumps vaccination offered by the province after the outbreak started. But the province didn?t offer the shots until 58 days after the outbreak was declared.
Thirty health-care workers got the mumps, out of 793 total cases. Department spokesman Bretton Loney pointed out those workers may have caught the illness outside the workplace. Another 284 workers, mostly in the Capital district, had to take a few days off to be sure they didn?t have mumps.
New Democrat health critic Dave Wilson said the province should have a plan in place to immunize workers in the case of an outbreak, but he also doesn?t think immunizations should be mandatory.
?You can?t expect and I don?t think the government can impose a mandatory vaccination. What they have to do is ensure the education portion is there,? Mr. Wilson said.
The mumps outbreak is winding down, Dr. Strang said, with only 16 cases so far this year.
Auditor general Jacques Lapointe said in his February report that the provincial response to the outbreak was ?less than timely,? overall planning was inadequate, officials didn?t consider recommendations from previous reports and recorded information was often incomplete.
He was also concerned about how officials handled the vaccine, and whether they kept it at the proper temperature while transporting it.
Liberal health critic Dave Wilson called the report ?damning,? but Dr. Strang defended the response.
?I think the outbreak was handled extremely well, and was handled in a timely fashion,? he said during the meeting.
He went on to say that Mr. Lapointe didn?t consider the changing circumstances of the outbreak, and in the beginning, there didn?t appear to be a need for workers to be immunized. He also said the department was already working on some shortcomings that Mr. Lapointe identified.
Dr. Strang said the immunization was available quickly after officials determined they should provide it.
As for the vaccine?s temperature, Dr. Strang said there are other ways of knowing whether the vaccine is compromised besides using temperature monitors.
?I?ll use an analogy of, you buy ice cream at the store. It?s pretty easy to tell if that ice cream has risen in temperature by the time you get home. It?s melted,? Dr. Strang told the committee.
?It?s a bit more sophisticated, but our staff is very trained,? he said, with the Liberal chiming in, ?I hope so.?
Mr. Wilson said it?s lucky the outbreak was of mumps and not something even more serious.
?Admit (the response) was inadequate because you know it was, and then move on from there and make sure that you fix it before the next time because there will be a next time,? he said.
Health Promotion deputy minister Duff Montgomerie said the department is acting on all 21 recommendations made in the 2006 public health renewal report from 2006.
(djackson@he)
N.S. public health chief scolds health workers who don't get flu shots
By DAVID JACKSON Provincial Reporter
Wed. Apr 23 - 4:37 PM
Only half of the province?s health-care workers get their flu shots, and the rest should know better, chief public health officer Dr. Robert Strang said Wednesday.
Dr. Strang said it seems workers may not realize the benefits to themselves and patients.
?If there?s a vaccine out there that will protect them, as well as minimize the chances of them transmitting an infection to a patient, they have a professional responsibility to take advantage of and get immunized,? Dr. Strang said after speaking to the public accounts committee.
Dr. Strang stopped short of advocating mandatory immunizations, something no other province has. Rather, he said officials must do more to educate the workers about getting themselves immunized.
Dr. Strang said the 50 per cent figure is an average, and noted most workers in long-term care facilities are immunized. The capital district health authority said that in the 2007-08 flu season, 34 per cent of employees got a flu shot, which protects against only certain strains of the virus.
Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union president Joan Jessome said the union doesn?t have a position on whether members should get the shot. She said it?s up to the individual, but government should make the shots free and easily accessible. The province already does pay for health-care workers? shots.
Immunization came up during the meeting as MLAs asked senior Health Promotion and Protection staff about the auditor general?s criticism of its handling of the mumps outbreak, which started in February last year.
Only 40 per cent of health-care workers got the mumps vaccination offered by the province after the outbreak started. But the province didn?t offer the shots until 58 days after the outbreak was declared.
Thirty health-care workers got the mumps, out of 793 total cases. Department spokesman Bretton Loney pointed out those workers may have caught the illness outside the workplace. Another 284 workers, mostly in the Capital district, had to take a few days off to be sure they didn?t have mumps.
New Democrat health critic Dave Wilson said the province should have a plan in place to immunize workers in the case of an outbreak, but he also doesn?t think immunizations should be mandatory.
?You can?t expect and I don?t think the government can impose a mandatory vaccination. What they have to do is ensure the education portion is there,? Mr. Wilson said.
The mumps outbreak is winding down, Dr. Strang said, with only 16 cases so far this year.
Auditor general Jacques Lapointe said in his February report that the provincial response to the outbreak was ?less than timely,? overall planning was inadequate, officials didn?t consider recommendations from previous reports and recorded information was often incomplete.
He was also concerned about how officials handled the vaccine, and whether they kept it at the proper temperature while transporting it.
Liberal health critic Dave Wilson called the report ?damning,? but Dr. Strang defended the response.
?I think the outbreak was handled extremely well, and was handled in a timely fashion,? he said during the meeting.
He went on to say that Mr. Lapointe didn?t consider the changing circumstances of the outbreak, and in the beginning, there didn?t appear to be a need for workers to be immunized. He also said the department was already working on some shortcomings that Mr. Lapointe identified.
Dr. Strang said the immunization was available quickly after officials determined they should provide it.
As for the vaccine?s temperature, Dr. Strang said there are other ways of knowing whether the vaccine is compromised besides using temperature monitors.
?I?ll use an analogy of, you buy ice cream at the store. It?s pretty easy to tell if that ice cream has risen in temperature by the time you get home. It?s melted,? Dr. Strang told the committee.
?It?s a bit more sophisticated, but our staff is very trained,? he said, with the Liberal chiming in, ?I hope so.?
Mr. Wilson said it?s lucky the outbreak was of mumps and not something even more serious.
?Admit (the response) was inadequate because you know it was, and then move on from there and make sure that you fix it before the next time because there will be a next time,? he said.
Health Promotion deputy minister Duff Montgomerie said the department is acting on all 21 recommendations made in the 2006 public health renewal report from 2006.
(djackson@he)
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