Title

Implementation of a Mandatory Influenza Vaccine Policy: A 10-Year Experience.

Authors

Eimear Kitt, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PAFollow
Sharon Burt, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PAFollow
Susan M Price, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PAFollow
Lauren Satchell, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PAFollow
Paul A Offit, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PAFollow
Julia S Sammons, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PAFollow
Susan E Coffin, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PAFollow

Publication Title

Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America

Document Type

Article

PubMed ID

33372217

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Influenza vaccination of healthcare workers (HCWs) has been recommended for more than 30 years. In 2009, HCWs were designated as a priority group by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Current HCW vaccination rates are 78% across all settings and reach approximately 92% among those employed in hospital settings. Over the last decade, it has become clear that mandatory vaccine policies result in maximal rates of HCW immunization.

METHODS: In this observational 10-year study, we describe the implementation of a mandatory influenza vaccination policy in a dedicated quaternary pediatric hospital setting by a multidisciplinary team. We analyzed 10 years of available data from deidentified occupational health records from 2009-2010 through the 2018-2019 influenza seasons. Descriptive statistics were performed using Stata v15 and Excel.

RESULTS: Sustained increases in HCW immunization rates above 99% were observed in the 10 years postimplementation, in addition to a reduction in exemption requests and healthcare-associated influenza. In the year of implementation, 145 (1.6%) HCWs were placed on temporary suspension for failure to receive the vaccine without documentation of an exemption, with 9 (0.06%) subsequently being terminated. Since then, between 0 and 3 HCWs are terminated yearly for failure to receive the vaccine.

CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of our mandatory influenza vaccination program succeeded in successfully increasing the proportion of immunized HCWs at a quaternary care children's hospital, reducing annual exemption requests with a small number of terminations secondary to vaccine refusal. Temporal trends suggest a positive impact on the safety of our patients.

Keywords

Attitude of Health Personnel, Child, Health Personnel, Humans, Influenza Vaccines, Influenza, Human, Mandatory Programs, Policy, Vaccination

DOI

10.1093/cid/ciaa782

Publication Date

7-15-2021

Citation

Kitt, E., Burt, S., Price, S., Satchell, L., Offit, P., Sammons, J., & Coffin, S. (2021). Implementation of a Mandatory Influenza Vaccine Policy: A 10-Year Experience.. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 73 (2), 290-290. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa782