These Organizations Are Opposed to Flu Vaccine Mandates Many organizations are opposed to mandatory flu vaccination and the lack of options for exemptions, including these well-known groups: American Medical Association (AMA): 228,000 members [2] Service Employees International Union, representing health care workers (SEIU): 1,100,000 members [3] Association of American Physicians and Surgeons: 4,000 members [4] American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME): 1,300,000 members [5] American Federation of Teachers (AFT): 1,600,000 members [6] Association of Flight Attendants-Communications Workers of America (AFA): 60,000 members [7] The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions: 95,000 members United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union: 30,000 members What Did These Groups Really Say About Mandatory Vaccination? Did these groups really speak out against mandatory vaccination? Yes. In a moment, we’ll take a look at the most shocking name on the list, a group comprising doctors, many of the same doctors who are recommending vaccination for their patients. You may be surprised to learn that OSHA, a governmental organization whose aim is to promote workplace health and safety, strongly opposed mandatory vaccination. They stated: “Influenza vaccination exemptions should be allowed for HCP with valid medical contraindications to vaccinations, or religious and/or personal objections.” (emphasis added) The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing health care workers in 28 regional branches, also submitted a written statement against mandatory vaccination: “Employee relations and public health are not well served by the use of coercion to achieve flu vaccination ends. And it is not consisted with our national values openness, respect, and informed consent around medical treatments we receive.” (sic) The list of objections does not stop there. The AFL-CIO labor union, with its large, international membership base, stated firmly in their written comments: “Healthcare workers must be permitted to refuse the annual seasonal influenza vaccination without fear of reprisal for medical, religious, or personal reasons.” (emphasis added) A large organization representing government employees, the AFSCME, wrote that they: “… cannot endorse Recommendation #4 urging that employers require influenza vaccination without allowance for medical, religious and philosophical exemptions.” Members of the AFT, a professional organization for teachers, agreed that requiring teachers to accept mandatory vaccination was a change in their employment terms and could not result in termination or disciplinary action. They wrote: “The mandate should be the adoption of a comprehensive standard similar to OSHA blood-borne pathogen standard with requirements for training, voluntary immunization and declination after education.” (emphasis added) The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a 70 year-old organization, comprises over 4,000 members across all specialties of medicine. Their group’s interests include protecting private medical practices and the patient-provider relationship. They stated vehemently: “The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons … objects strenuously to any coercion of healthcare personnel to receive influenza immunization. It is a fundamental human right not to be subjected to medical interventions without fully informed consent.” (emphasis added) In addition to the two health care groups mentioned in this section, you might not believe which other respected health care professional organizations are opposed to mandatory vaccination. The Surprising Big-Name Vaccine Refusers Are you surprised to see the American Medical Association at the top of the list of mandated flu vaccine refusers? The AMA has failed to support vaccine mandates that do not allow for exemptions, as evidenced by a report the group adopted in November 2010 for member physicians, granting them vaccine exemptions: “In the context of a highly transmissible disease that poses significant medical risk for vulnerable patients or colleagues, or threatens the availability of the health care workforce, particularly a disease that has potential to become epidemic or pandemic, and for which there is an available, safe, and effective vaccine, physicians have an obligation to: (a) accept immunization absent a recognized medical, religious, or philosophic reason to not be immunized. (b) Accept a decision of the medical staff leadership or health care institution, or other appropriate authority to adjust practice activities if not immunized (e.g., wear masks or refrain from direct patient care). It may be appropriate in some circumstances to inform patients about immunization status.” [1] (emphasis added) This group has seen declining membership for decades since the 1950s, when 75 percent of US physicians belonged to this esteemed organization, although they have seen small but steady membership increases for the past three years, coincidentally, at the same time they adopted the vaccine exemption status outlined above. Today, only about 15 percent of doctors practicing medicine in the US belong to the AMA. Some of this decline, according to an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is due to the AMA’s support of government-mandated health care policies, even though the AMA has spoken against forced vaccination policies that do not permit exemptions for its own members. [8] In addition, another group of patient care providers, 170,000 members strong, unequivocally objected to mandatory vaccination. Can you guess who its members are? Nurses. These are the same people who often administer vaccines to your child. National Nurses United boldly summarized the many important reasons why mandatory vaccination is so dangerous, to individuals and entire industries: “… we cannot support mandatory vaccination policies, because, rather than being educated on the importance of vaccination, employees are instead coerced into accepting the vaccine, or risk being punished, retaliated against, and, in some cases, fired by their employer. Mandatory flu vaccination programs engender distrust and resistance among employees; offer a disincentive to providing vaccination education to employees, and raise ethical and legal questions about the personal employment rights of employees. This is not the way to protect public health.”
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 06:46:43 +0000
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