The Vaccination War And The Workplace William L. Newkirk, M.D., F.A.C.P.M, Medical Director, UL PureSafety OH&S Online What's really interesting right now is which side OSHA is fighting on Now that we have immunizations for many of the diseases that can be transmitted to health care workers, the debate has become: Do we use them? If so, which should be mandatory? And, how much information do we need to override an employee's anti-vaccination belief?
These questions are currently playing out in the debate over whether influenza vaccinations should be mandatory for health care workers.
First, some background information on the vaccination war....
On Jan. 3, 2012, attorneys for Dr. Andrew Wakefield filed a defamation lawsuit in the Travis County, Texas District Court against the British Medical Journal, Brian Deer, and Dr. Fiona Goodlee. This lawsuit is one more skirmish in the ongoing vaccination war that began in February 1998 when The Lancet published a research article by Dr. Wakefield and 12 others that concluded:
"We have identified a chronic enterocolitis in children that may be related to neuropsychiatric dysfunction. In most cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunization. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine."
In a Feb. 26, 1998, press release from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine about the study, Dr. Wakefield is quoted:
"This study has identified a possible link between gut disorders in children and autism. In the majority of cases the onset of symptoms occurred soon after the MMR vaccination. We clearly need research to examine this new syndrome, and to look into a possible relation to the MMR vaccine."
Jonathan Jacobi, Sr. EHS Consultant, UL UL Workplace: UL's workplace health and safety software solutions provide industryleading software and expertise to help you improve business performance and gain peace of mind in the critical areas of safety and health compliance, risk management, governance and culture.