Vested Interest Drug Authors Insist On Mandated Flu Vaccine

Healthcare professionals should be required to get vaccinated against seasonal influenza or else lose their jobs and professional privileges, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) says in a position paper released today. The position paper, which updates a SHEA statement issued in 2005, recommends mandatory vaccination of all HCP working in all healthcare settings, regardless of whether they come into contact with patients and whether they are directly employed by the facility. The recommendation extends to students, volunteers, and contract workers. "One hopes that, in the interests of protecting both patients and their members, these organizations will not oppose mandatory programs that are developed in collaboration with employees,"  the position paper states. One author of the position paper reports that he is a consultant for Joint Commission Resources. He and some other authors report various financial rel ationships with Avianax, BD Diagnostics, Care Fusions, CSL, Cubist, EMD Serono, Emergent BioSolutions, GlaxoSmithKline, Human Genome Sciences, Liquidia Technologies, MedImmune, Merck, Novartis Vaccines and Therapeutics, Novavax, OrthoMcNeil, PaxVax, Pfizer, Rymed Technology, Sage, Sanofi Pasteur, Theraclone Sciences (formally Spaltudaq Corporation), Vaxxinate, and/or Wyeth. Mandated vaccination has been met with resistance.

Robert Lowes, Medscape Today

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Press Release, Science Daily