{"id":377,"date":"2017-09-18T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/?p=377"},"modified":"2017-09-15T14:51:20","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T19:51:20","slug":"do-the-right-thing-and-get-a-flu-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/2017\/09\/18\/do-the-right-thing-and-get-a-flu-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"Do the Right Thing and Get a Flu Vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Content courtesy of Dr. Mark Rupp.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the days shorten and there is a bit of fall nip in the morning air, it is a reminder that the respiratory virus season will be here soon.<\/p>\n

Although the flu vaccine is not perfect (about 50% protection), it remains our best means to prevent influenza.\u00a0 We are not able to predict with accuracy whether this will be a mild or severe flu season.\u00a0 However, it was a worse than average flu season in Australia (remember their winter season is our summer) and this may mean we are in store for a severe flu season.\u00a0 In any case, it is wise to prepare for the worst.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s quadrivalent vaccine will again contain two \u201cA\u201d strains and two \u201cB\u201d strains and will hopefully match up well with the circulating strains in the community.\u00a0 The flu vaccine is highly recommended by the CDC for all persons aged greater than six months of age.\u00a0\u00a0 Flu vaccination is particularly important for healthcare providers because we are in close contact with vulnerable patients who can experience serious complications or death if they contract the flu.\u00a0 As healthcare providers, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to provide safe care to our patients.\u00a0 At Nebraska Medicine, we take this responsibility seriously.\u00a0 Last year, 92% <\/strong>of our providers received the flu vaccine without a mandate<\/strong>.\u00a0 We are doing the right thing for the right reason- to protect ourselves, our patients and our families.<\/p>\n

However, our high rate of influenza vaccination acceptance does not happen by accident.\u00a0 Months in advance, our colleagues in the pharmacy make sure we order an adequate supply of vaccine.\u00a0 Each unit and clinic has a \u201cFlu Vaccine Champion\u201d who undergoes special training and then promotes and administers flu vaccine to colleagues. We routinely provide, free of charge, quadrivalent vaccine for most persons.\u00a0 A high dose vaccine is provided for our co-workers over the age of 65 and a recombinant \u201cegg-free\u201d vaccine is available for those with serious allergy to eggs. The Employee Health Department holds over a dozen open clinics that are conveniently located and scheduled to allow our workers, students, and volunteers to receive the vaccine.<\/p>\n

Vaccine status is conveniently tracked and reported via an online database that is constructed and maintained by our experts in Information Technology.\u00a0 Finally, the whole program is supported by administration at the highest levels.\u00a0 It truly takes a village to pull this off every year-but it pays off with >90% voluntary<\/strong> vaccine acceptance.<\/p>\n

In addition, there are other features to our campaign to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses.\u00a0 We post signs throughout the hospital to alert visitors to not visit if they are sick.\u00a0 Similarly, we try to avoid \u201cpresenteeism\u201d and we urge our healthcare providers to stay home if they are ill.\u00a0 We aggressively promote hand hygiene, environmental cleanliness, and respiratory etiquette (e.g. \u201ccover your cough\u201d).<\/p>\n

So, do the right thing and get your flu vaccine.<\/p>\n

See more about influenza and vaccinations at UNMC here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Content courtesy of Dr. Mark Rupp. As the days shorten and there is a bit of fall nip in the morning air, it is a reminder that the respiratory virus season will be here soon. Although the flu vaccine is not perfect (about 50% protection), it remains our best means to prevent influenza.\u00a0 We are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":532,"featured_media":378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infection-prevention-and-control","tag-unmcid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/532"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":381,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions\/381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.unmc.edu\/infectious-disease\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}