Required vaccinations

[Arizona Wildcat]

Massachusetts voted to require all students to show vaccination for the flu.  The reasoning being that reducing flu would likely reduce the severity and number of COVID cases.

No details on any exemptions if any.

Legislation has been introduced in at least 6 other states I found using a bill tracker search.

[NonnaTLC]

I think this is a great idea! 

We offer (I am an Adult Education Nurse) all our students free flu vaccines, and most get them.  It is also a requirement for the clinical portion of programs I teach there.  I believe it will make a huge difference in the flu/Covid-19 mash up.  

I'm hoping Connecticut does the same.  Our state has done really well keeping the virus at bay, but credit goes to consistent required mask wearing, social distancing and public health awareness and COMPLIANCE! 

I, like everyone else wants this over so life can resume and the economy improves.  Most of all I want to see the unemployed get jobs again, be able to support themselves and their families, and not have to worry about where their next meal comes from.  It breaks my heart to see so many people struggling to keep home and family together and safe.  

 

[phoenix_dream]

I have mixed feelings about this.  First of all, I'm not sure I follow their logic as stated by the OP.  How does having less flu translate to having less Covid-19 cases?   I get that less flu means more availability of hospital beds so that argument has some merit.  But it also seems to me a slippery slope.  I am not an anti-vaxxer by any means - I always get the flu shot and encourage everyone who is able to do the same.  But overall the flu has a fairly low mortality rate, generally does not cause the same long-term side effects Covid-19 is showing, and has a particularly low mortality rate for the young and healthy.  So to require the vaccine seems an overreach of government control (and I am NOT one of those balking at mask wearing, social distancing, etc. - I see the reasoning and follow the rules).

[1025cruise]

As a Massachusetts resident, I expect that there will be a ton of argument on this one.

[d9704011]

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Massachusetts voted to require all students to show vaccination for the flu.  The reasoning being that reducing flu would likely reduce the severity and number of COVID cases.

No details on any exemptions if any.

Legislation has been introduced in at least 6 other states I found using a bill tracker search.

Reasoning - reduction in flu cases reduces impact on health care system and frees up resources in evenf of CV-19 outbreaks.

Exemptions - medical and religious reasons.

[SevenSeas1492]

I don’t see how this is any different than the required immunizations for school now; i.e., DPT, MMR, Polio, and other required shots.

[NonnaTLC]

2 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I have mixed feelings about this.  First of all, I'm not sure I follow their logic as stated by the OP.  How does having less flu translate to having less Covid-19 cases?   I get that less flu means more availability of hospital beds so that argument has some merit.  But it also seems to me a slippery slope.  I am not an anti-vaxxer by any means - I always get the flu shot and encourage everyone who is able to do the same.  But overall the flu has a fairly low mortality rate, generally does not cause the same long-term side effects Covid-19 is showing, and has a particularly low mortality rate for the young and healthy.  So to require the vaccine seems an overreach of government control (and I am NOT one of those balking at mask wearing, social distancing, etc. - I see the reasoning and follow the rules).

If someone were to get the flu and Covid-19 it would probably be fatal.  The flu is pretty bad and can be deadly (especially to elderly and any other compromised person).

But, the biggest problem I see is the ability for medical facilities would easily become overtaxed.  There is still not enough PPE.  I cannot imagina the "normal" number of flu cases added to Covid-19 cases.  It would break our medical health professionals,  and it would lead to a triage system that would become untenable...

(Who gets the ICU bed?)

Scary stuff happening right now!

[sanger727]

That's interesting given how many people are anti-flu vaccine. Our local schools are doing different combinations of in person and online learning. If a family didn't want to give their child the flu vaccine I wonder if the school would accommodate them doing 100% online or if they would just be out of luck with going to public school. For the former, I can see this flying, for the latter, I think there will be alot of push back. For the record, I do get my flu vaccine every year and will again this year. But I know many people who refuse to get it (the vaccine has made them feel ill in the past, or they had the vaccine and got the flu and are convinced they caught the flu from the vaccine, or just straight anti-vaxxers).

 

[K.T.B.]

11 hours ago, SevenSeas1492 said:

I don’t see how this is any different than the required immunizations for school now; i.e., DPT, MMR, Polio, and other required shots.

 

Exactly, though the anti-vaxxers will try to work around it.

 

I don't have any issues with a legally required vaccine, as long as it's safe and it's done to save lives.

[1025cruise]

In Mass, 100% online learning does not require a flu shot.

Also to clarify the OP, there was no vote. This was a decision by the state DPH. There are medical/religious exemptions.

 

Now, not to say getting a flu shot is a bad idea, but I don't feel it should be mandated. 

[K.T.B.]

8 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

In Mass, 100% online learning does not require a flu shot.

Also to clarify the OP, there was no vote. This was a decision by the state DPH. There are medical/religious exemptions.

 

Now, not to say getting a flu shot is a bad idea, but I don't feel it should be mandated. 

 

I don't get one, but only because it makes me violently ill when I do.  BUT if it became a requirement to cruise, as well as having a Covid vaccine, I'd suck it up and do it.  It's not just about me, it's about making sure others are protected as well.

[TeeRick]

I'm pretty sure the idea in MA and elsewhere is to reduce the incidence of influenza of course and in particular to lesson the confusion over whether folks have Flu or COVID this winter.

[TeeRick]

12 hours ago, SevenSeas1492 said:

I don’t see how this is any different than the required immunizations for school now; i.e., DPT, MMR, Polio, and other required shots.

Only difference is that Flu vaccine is annual.  Those others are not.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

10 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

I'm pretty sure the idea in MA and elsewhere is to reduce the incidence of influenza of course and in particular to lessen the confusion over whether folks have Flu or COVID this winter.

 

Bingo! I think that is the primary reason the flu shot will be highly recommended and encouraged everywhere. (Along with hoping they get the right strain for the flu shot this year!) Symptoms can be so similar, anything that can lessen one will only help with identifying the other.

[H2OH!]

17 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Massachusetts voted to require all students to show vaccination for the flu.  The reasoning being that reducing flu would likely reduce the severity and number of COVID cases.

No details on any exemptions if any.

Legislation has been introduced in at least 6 other states I found using a bill tracker search.

 

What bill tracker do you use?

[Fouremco]

This article provides a good overview:

 

https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2020/08/19/massachusetts-students-flu-shot-requirement

[Arizona Wildcat]

2 hours ago, H2OH! said:

 

What bill tracker do you use?

I look at each state.  No single bill tracker that I am aware of.

[NonnaTLC]

3 hours ago, H2OH! said:

 

What bill tracker do you use?

I use the bill tracker for my own state, just Google "Bill tracker (name of state)"

[sanger727]

23 hours ago, K.T.B. said:

 

I don't get one, but only because it makes me violently ill when I do.  BUT if it became a requirement to cruise, as well as having a Covid vaccine, I'd suck it up and do it.  It's not just about me, it's about making sure others are protected as well.

 

That sounds unnecessary to me. I can't imagine a doctor would recommend a flu shot to someone who gets "violently ill" from it. Sounds like a potential allergy, which could become quite dangerous with repeated exposure. There are always some people who cannot get a vaccine due to medical issues, allergies, etc. There will have to be an exemption process.

[TeeRick]

On 8/20/2020 at 9:14 AM, K.T.B. said:

 

I don't get one, but only because it makes me violently ill when I do.  BUT if it became a requirement to cruise, as well as having a Covid vaccine, I'd suck it up and do it.  It's not just about me, it's about making sure others are protected as well.

The influenza vaccines commonly produced in eggs are inactivated (killed) viruses formulated in adjuvant and injected in your arm (intramuscular).  What do you mean by violently ill?  Are you allergic to eggs?  Does it affect mostly the local site of injection?  I am asking because you have an alternative influenza vaccine that you could try.  Look up FluMist.  It is made by AZ.  It is a low dose of live, attenuated influenza in a nasal spray.  It is cold-adapted (meaning cold temperature). It only replicates in your nose and not in your lungs.  

[Lonedaddy]

 

On 8/20/2020 at 7:56 AM, K.T.B. said:

 

Exactly, though the anti-vaxxers will try to work around it.

 

I don't have any issues with a legally required vaccine, as long as it's safe and it's done to save lives.

and if it is legally required and someone gets Guillain-Barre syndrome as a result who is liable?

[mom says]

40 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

 

and if it is legally required and someone gets Guillain-Barre syndrome as a result who is liable?

Is that the best you can do? According to the CDC: 

"When there has been an increased risk, it has consistently been in the range of 1-2 additional GBS cases per million flu vaccine doses administered.

Studies suggest that it is more likely that a person will get GBS after getting the flu than after vaccination."

Edited August 21, 2020 by mom says

[Lonedaddy]

12 minutes ago, mom says said:

Is that the best you can do? According to the CDC: 

"When there has been an increased risk, it has consistently been in the range of 1-2 additional GBS cases per million flu vaccine doses administered.

Studies suggest that it is more likely that a person will get GBS after getting the flu than after vaccination."

and everything the CDC says is 100% accurate.  and if you never had GBS then you have no room to talk.  what happened to my body my choice?  

[Lonedaddy]

[phoenix_dream]

36 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

and everything the CDC says is 100% accurate.  and if you never had GBS then you have no room to talk.  what happened to my body my choice?  

"my body my choice" ends when what you are doing to your body has a significant, detrimental impact on those with whom you interact.  And no, the CDC is not always 100% accurate as they need to change their directions as more knowledge is built.  But I'd be willing to bet everything I own that they know more about the vaccines and their impact than you do (and this applies even if you happen to be someone who has had GBS - having had it does not make you an expert.  I've had three children, but when I was pregnant I went to an OB, not to another mother who happened to know what pregnancy was like.)