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NY Nurse Sues To Block Mandatory Flu Vaccines

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Oct 10, 2009 5:37 pm US/Eastern

NY Nurse Sues To Block Mandatory Flu Vaccines

Dutchess County RN Files Lawsuit To Block Rule Mandating That State Health Workers Get Seasonal, H1N1 Vaccines

NEW YORK (CBS) ― A registered nurse has asked a judge to block New York state's requirement that all health care workers get vaccinated against the flu.

An attorney for Suzanne Field, a nurse in Dutchess County, said she filed the lawsuit to protect the rights of nearly 60,000 medical workers covered by an emergency rule put in place in the wake of this year's swine flu scare.

This fall, New York became the first state to require most doctors, nurses and health care aides to get a vaccine for both the seasonal flu and the new swine flu if they want to stay on the job.

Flu can be deadly if spread in health care facilities among people already weakened by illness, but the mandatory inoculations have upset some workers with worries about the safety of vaccines.

Physical therapist Carole Blueweiss is weighing that risk.

"I'm healthy and I have a strong immune system, and I don't want to feel like someone is telling me what to put into my body to protect me," Blueweiss said.

Field's request for a restraining order is now before a judge in Manhattan. A hearing is planned for Wednesday.

State Health Commissioner Richard Daines said the rule is both legal and necessary to protect the public. Courts, he noted, have already upheld similar rules that require health care workers to get vaccinated for the measles and rubella.

But Blueweiss, who plans to give her son the seasonal vaccine, doesn't trust H1N1 for him or herself. In her 15 years as a physical therapist at a large New York hospital, she says she's never gotten a flu shot and never had the flu.

"We are health care workers, and we are not even given the credit or the respect to make the decision," Blueweiss said. "It's outrageous, and it feels criminal and anti-American."

Presently, between 30 percent and 40 percent of health care workers voluntarily get a flu shot each year.

The New York State Nurses Association has encouraged its members to get vaccinated voluntarily, but has opposed the new rule, saying there should be exemptions for people who don't want vaccines for religious or philosophical reasons.

"We're against our civil liberties being stepped on," said Barbara Crane, president of the National Federation of Nurses.

There is also a strong resistance to the vaccine from the general public. A new Harvard University poll shows that only four in 10 adults intend to take the vaccine themselves, and only six in 10 plan to give it to their children.


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(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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