CMS requires hospitals and health systems mandate flu vaccinations of their employees and contract staff as a condition of Medicare payment for the hospital. This needs to be repealed. This is nothing more than big pharma’s way of having guaranteed profits. The efficacy rate for flu vaccine has always been a hit or miss, as variants included in the current years vaccine has to be based upon flu variants in South America and other areas with winter season’s opposite ours. Influenza variants and their ability to mutate make it difficult to be spot on in total coverage for flu. This year’s effectiveness at prohibiting hospitalization of those at high risk is approximately 30%. We are risking serious vaccine side effects like Guillain Barre syndrome for low effectiveness rate. Our government has long downplayed the side effect profile of vaccines. Vaccine are like every other medication and come with a degree of risk. The government should not make vaccination of healthcare workers a condition of payment.
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I am a federal employee in the medical field and fully support this policy. I had to choose between formaldehyde or canine kidney cells/DNA for this year’s vaccine. There is no informed consent, because unless you look up the Vaccine Excipient Summary Appendix B, the ingredients of each vaccine are not disclosed when receiving these vaccines. I fully support voluntary participation, but I do not wish to consume this pharmaceutical product and have not seen compelling evidence for the vaccine in a health adult. I’ve had the flu once in my life.
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