Clin Infect Dis . Implementation of a Mandatory Influenza Vaccine Policy: A 10-Year Experience

[tetano]

Clin Infect Dis


. 2020 Jun 17;ciaa782.
doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa782. Online ahead of print.
Implementation of a Mandatory Influenza Vaccine Policy: A 10-Year Experience


Eimear Kitt ^{1 2} , Sharon Burt ³ , Susan M Price ³ , Lauren Satchell ⁴ , Paul A Offit ^{1 2 5} , Julia S Sammons ^{1 2 4} , Susan E Coffin ^{1 2 4 6}



Affiliations

• PMID: 33372217
• DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciaa782

Abstract

Background: Influenza vaccination of healthcare workers (HCWs) has been recommended for more than 30 years. In 2009, HCWs were designated as a priority group by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Current HCW vaccination rates are 78% across all settings and reach approximately 92% among those employed in hospital settings. Over the last decade, it has become clear that mandatory vaccine policies result in maximal rates of HCW immunization.
Methods: In this observational 10-year study, we describe the implementation of a mandatory influenza vaccination policy in a dedicated quaternary pediatric hospital setting by a multidisciplinary team. We analyzed 10 years of available data from deidentified occupational health records from 2009-2010 through the 2018-2019 influenza seasons. Descriptive statistics were performed using Stata v15 and Excel.
Results: Sustained increases in HCW immunization rates above 99% were observed in the 10 years postimplementation, in addition to a reduction in exemption requests and healthcare-associated influenza. In the year of implementation, 145 (1.6%) HCWs were placed on temporary suspension for failure to receive the vaccine without documentation of an exemption, with 9 (0.06%) subsequently being terminated. Since then, between 0 and 3 HCWs are terminated yearly for failure to receive the vaccine.
Conclusions: Implementation of our mandatory influenza vaccination program succeeded in successfully increasing the proportion of immunized HCWs at a quaternary care children's hospital, reducing annual exemption requests with a small number of terminations secondary to vaccine refusal. Temporal trends suggest a positive impact on the safety of our patients.

Keywords: healthcare worker; influenza; pediatric; vaccination.