New York health workers react to mandate on H1N1 vaccination

As the H1N1 swine flu virus spreads throughout the U.S., New York mandates influenza vaccinations for all health care workers operating in the state. Workers cite freedoms in rejecting the mandate.

With an unusually active influenza season taking shape across the United States and the northern hemisphere in general, New York State has decided to make vaccinations for health care workers a mandatory occurrence. The decision - equivalent to an ultimatum - has sparked protests among health care workers who cite individual freedoms and the potential health dangers among vaccine programs as the reasoning behind their rejection of the mandate. Reed and Kristi Tramposch, both registered nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit at Stony Brook University Medical Center,and Tramposch told Newsday: "There are a lot of toxic substances that go into vaccines. I would like to see a lot of people get it [the swine flu vaccine] before I consider it.” The vaccination mandate demands that both seasonal flu and swine flu shots are administered to nurses and other health care workers - and if workers refuse the vaccines they are to be fired. New York is the only state requiring the vaccinations, and all health care workers are expected to be vaccinated by November 30. Health care workers planned a rally for Tuesday in Albany to protest the state's decision and to question the legality of the mandatory vaccine.