In halting mandatory flu shots, NY had to step back

For now, the war drums in New York state can stop beating. In an about-face, New York Governor David Paterson announced yesterday that healthcare workers in the state will no longer be required to receive seasonal or H1N1 flu vaccinations as a condition of employment.

Let’s be blunt: It’s hard to win a battle against nurses. They collectively fuel the engine that runs healthcare, and they also possess a powerful voice. Some nurses get flu shots, some don’t. What New York’s initial rule and subsequent backtracking show is that nurses don’t want the government making those decisions.

It really does all boil down to a choice about risks: There are assumed risks in taking the flu vaccine (based on documented adverse reactions), just as there are assumed risks in refusing it. And patients, particularly those who are immunocompromised, assume risks just by being in a hospital.

Strictly from a legal sense, the unfortunate part of Paterson’s announcement is that the debate, at least for now, won’t get its day in court. Only last week, a judge temporarily halted the mandatory vaccination program until a formal hearing could take place.

Paterson indicated the change in heart resulted from concerns about limited supplies of flu vaccinations in the state. “Over the last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged that New York would only receive approximately 23 percent of its anticipated vaccine supply by the end of the month,” Paterson said in his statement. “As a result, we need to be as resourceful as we can with the limited supplies of vaccine currently coming into the state and make sure that those who are at the highest risk for complications from the H1N1 flu receive the first vaccine being distributed right now in New York state.”

The statement said nothing about the legal battles that had ensued from nurses suing the state over the forced vaccinations. However, there is little doubt that opposition to the mandatory vaccinations put pressure on the state government to rethink its position.

Last month, Brad Keyes, a life safety consultant for The Greeley Company, noted in a completely unrelated conversation that a hospital is the nurses’ house, not anyone else’s. The New York tug-of-war seems to prove that.