tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Employees of Excela Health will have a choice this fall regarding the flu vaccine: get it, or wear a surgical mask when tending to patients.
The new policy, which is the first of its kind in the region, is aimed at protecting patients and staff from contracting the illness, according to officials with the health system.
"If everyone in the general public should get this, everyone in health care should get the vaccine," said Dr. David A. Wyszomierski, a Latrobe pediatrician who advocated strongly for the new policy.
"It not only prevents the person who gets the vaccine from getting the flu, but everyone you come in contact with," Wyszomierski said. "When you are in a hospital, it's just very good and responsible to get your own vaccine so you don't catch the flu and pass it on to someone you are taking care of."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta recommends influenza vaccination for everyone age 6 months and older, but it cannot make them mandatory for health care workers.
Read more: Excela Health mandates flu vaccines or masks for workers - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_747193.html#ixzz1SRx4DIl0
The new policy, which is the first of its kind in the region, is aimed at protecting patients and staff from contracting the illness, according to officials with the health system.
"If everyone in the general public should get this, everyone in health care should get the vaccine," said Dr. David A. Wyszomierski, a Latrobe pediatrician who advocated strongly for the new policy.
"It not only prevents the person who gets the vaccine from getting the flu, but everyone you come in contact with," Wyszomierski said. "When you are in a hospital, it's just very good and responsible to get your own vaccine so you don't catch the flu and pass it on to someone you are taking care of."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta recommends influenza vaccination for everyone age 6 months and older, but it cannot make them mandatory for health care workers.
Read more: Excela Health mandates flu vaccines or masks for workers - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_747193.html#ixzz1SRx4DIl0