Mandatory flu vaccination program achieved almost total compliance

A mandatory influenza vaccination campaign at BJC HealthCare achieved a 98.4% compliance rate, according to findings presented at The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America’s 2009 Annual Scientific Meeting held in San Diego.

Hillary Babcock, MD, MPH, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. presented the results.

In October 2008, influenza vaccination was made a condition of employment for the 25,982 active employees. Medical or religious exemptions were allowed, as were requests for temporary postponement of vaccination.

Eleven employees were either not vaccinated or exempt for other reasons, 90 employees received religious exemptions and 321 employees received medical exemptions, resulting in the vaccination of 25,560 employees.

“Employees who had neither been vaccinated nor received an exemption by Dec. 15, 2008 had their employment suspended for 30 days,” Babcock said. “Those who were not vaccinated by Jan. 15, 2009 were terminated.” Eight employees refused vaccination and were terminated.

“Many of the exemption requests we received were based on misinformation, leading us to conclude that better communication may be helpful in instituting vaccination campaigns,” Babcock said. “We also believe that a standardized medical exemption form could simplify the request and review process.” – by Rob Volansky

For more information:

• Babcock H. #517. Presented at: Annual Meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America; March 19-22, 2009; San Diego.