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Source: http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/02/15/17282731.html
New flu deaths cast pall on precautions
By Jonathan Sher The London Free Press
Last Updated: February 15, 2011 7:53pm
*Days after London?s top public health official lamented how many health care workers hadn?t received flu vaccines, two seniors in hospitals or nursing homes have died.
Bryna Warshawsky, associate medical officer of health at the Middlesex-London Health Unit, wouldn?t disclose in which institutions the seniors had died or what the vaccinations rates were there.
But she drove home a point made last week by the chief medical officer of health ? that health care workers who refuse to get vaccinated put patients at risk.
While the vaccine prevents the flu in between 70 and 90% of adults who would otherwise get it, the vaccine is much less effective for seniors who must rely instead on those around them to get the vaccine.
?That?s why we encourage health care providers to get vaccinated,? Warshawsky said,
Last week Graham Pollett outlined how many health-care providers weren?t getting vaccinated:
At long-term care homes, an average of 48% of staff members had not been vaccinated.
At six hospitals, the vaccination rate ranged from 31% to 59%, with an average of only 35%.
The flu has so far killed nine people in London and Middlesex, including seven elderly people.
The virus also has caused 21 outbreaks in senior-care facilities and health-care institutions, a number approaching the two worst flu seasons in the past decade...
New flu deaths cast pall on precautions
By Jonathan Sher The London Free Press
Last Updated: February 15, 2011 7:53pm
*Days after London?s top public health official lamented how many health care workers hadn?t received flu vaccines, two seniors in hospitals or nursing homes have died.
Bryna Warshawsky, associate medical officer of health at the Middlesex-London Health Unit, wouldn?t disclose in which institutions the seniors had died or what the vaccinations rates were there.
But she drove home a point made last week by the chief medical officer of health ? that health care workers who refuse to get vaccinated put patients at risk.
While the vaccine prevents the flu in between 70 and 90% of adults who would otherwise get it, the vaccine is much less effective for seniors who must rely instead on those around them to get the vaccine.
?That?s why we encourage health care providers to get vaccinated,? Warshawsky said,
Last week Graham Pollett outlined how many health-care providers weren?t getting vaccinated:
At long-term care homes, an average of 48% of staff members had not been vaccinated.
At six hospitals, the vaccination rate ranged from 31% to 59%, with an average of only 35%.
The flu has so far killed nine people in London and Middlesex, including seven elderly people.
The virus also has caused 21 outbreaks in senior-care facilities and health-care institutions, a number approaching the two worst flu seasons in the past decade...