First Do No Harm: Protecting Patients Through Immunizing Health Care Workers.
Dorit Rubinstein Reiss
University of California Hastings College of the Law
Rene F. Najera
John Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Abstract:
This article examines the legal issues surrounding influenza mandates for health care workers, including the constitutional framework, federal employment discrimination statutes, and the effect of collective bargaining. It argues that requiring vaccination for health care workers is both ethical and appropriate. While better done via state statute, hospitals have the authority to require vaccination from their workers – and are not, arguably, required to exempt any workers that do not have medical barriers to vaccination.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2562091