Tonka
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http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20091023/NEWS01/910230359
N.Y. rescinds mandatory flu shots
VALERIE BAUMAN ? The Associated Press ? October 23, 2009
ALBANY ? The state Health Department has suspended a ruling that would have forced health care workers across the state to get vaccinated against the swine flu by the end of November or risk losing their jobs, saying in a decision issued Thursday that it did so because the vaccine is in short supply.
New York will be getting only about 23 percent of its anticipated supply of the vaccine for the swine flu virus ? also called H1N1 ? by the end of the month, and that should be reserved for those most at risk for serious illness and death, according to the governor's office.
"New evidence is showing that H1N1 can be especially virulent to pregnant women and young people ? so they should get vaccinated first," said Dr. Richard Daines, the state health commissioner.
Workers had protested Daines' earlier order that health care workers receive the vaccine, claiming it was unfair to force them to put a substance into their body. Unions and health workers sued the state, and a judge issued a temporary restraining order last week against the mandate.
"This suit was never about the safety of the vaccine, or the merits of it," said Carl Korn, a spokesman for New York State United Teachers union. "The suit was always about giving individuals the choice, as adults, as to whether or not they wanted to be vaccinated without the threat of termination."
The Health Department plans to pursue making the order permanent in 2010, said Diane Mathis, an agency spokeswoman.
N.Y. rescinds mandatory flu shots
VALERIE BAUMAN ? The Associated Press ? October 23, 2009
ALBANY ? The state Health Department has suspended a ruling that would have forced health care workers across the state to get vaccinated against the swine flu by the end of November or risk losing their jobs, saying in a decision issued Thursday that it did so because the vaccine is in short supply.
New York will be getting only about 23 percent of its anticipated supply of the vaccine for the swine flu virus ? also called H1N1 ? by the end of the month, and that should be reserved for those most at risk for serious illness and death, according to the governor's office.
"New evidence is showing that H1N1 can be especially virulent to pregnant women and young people ? so they should get vaccinated first," said Dr. Richard Daines, the state health commissioner.
Workers had protested Daines' earlier order that health care workers receive the vaccine, claiming it was unfair to force them to put a substance into their body. Unions and health workers sued the state, and a judge issued a temporary restraining order last week against the mandate.
"This suit was never about the safety of the vaccine, or the merits of it," said Carl Korn, a spokesman for New York State United Teachers union. "The suit was always about giving individuals the choice, as adults, as to whether or not they wanted to be vaccinated without the threat of termination."
The Health Department plans to pursue making the order permanent in 2010, said Diane Mathis, an agency spokeswoman.