The day an employer can mandate vaccines or any other medical treatment is the day our freedom flies out the window. I do not believe in vaccines and if I were you I would do my due dilligence to see about my rights. Then, if need be, ask for help from an attorney, if my job were in jeopardy.

Denise, I'm with you on this one. I work for a home care agency and my employer is trying to tell me that it is "required". I am not an advocate of vaccines either for myself or my children and I'm not going to let them bully me into doing something to my body that I'm adament about not doing. If they continue I may have to seek legal council

Although I agree with all Eliza says, I would change the order of importance and add an important point.

First issue is: do you want a flu shot.
Second issue: if you do not want a flu shot, does your personnel handbook say you have to and did you sign an agreement for this.
If your personnel handbook says that this is mandatory and you have signed for this, then that settles the matter. You either get the flu shot or they can fire you.

I agree. Our employer is not forcing us to take it but we have to sign a waiver and wear a mask. They are threatening that we may have to wear a mask all year round. That is if we don't agree to take either the seasonal or the H!N! vaccine. I do work in a Health Center but I am an Admin Asst and I have never gotten the flu shot. I think they are trying to weed out the subversives.

Barb, that reminds me of the bird flu pandemic. I don't believe anything the government says, especially the CDC. If I want a diseased monkey flesh in my body I will go to the zoo and get one.

Please check this out.

U.S. patent No. 5911998 - Method of producing a virus vaccine from an African green monkey kidney cell line. (http://www.patentstorm.u s/patents/5...)

The 'threat' of H1N1 flu is significantly overstated. The H1N1 flu has been generally mild with a quick recovery in most cases.

There is no proof that the H1N1 flu vaccine will work. (Nor that the seasonal flu vaccine will work.) They haven't had time to test its efficacy.
The H1N1 flu vaccine has not been tested for safety. Its 'approval' was rushed through to 'meet the need'.

The H1N1 flu vaccine contains thimerosal (mercury) and/or squalene as preservatives, both of which are neurotoxins and WILL CAUSE DAMAGE. No question about that. You need to decide if the certainty of damage from the vaccine is overwhelmed by YOUR PERSONAL NEED TO MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, POSSIBLY NOT GET THE FLU. There are no guarantees, as THE H1N1 FLU VACCINE HAS NOT BEEN TESTED. Is it worth damage to your nervous system to avoid this mild illness?

Do you personally know someone who has been diagnosed with the H1N1 flu? If so, you probably have already been exposed, and if it didn't make you sick, it's because your own immune system fought off the infection and you now have antibodies to the H1N1 flu the natural way! If this is the case, you don't need the H1N1 flu vaccine.

Are you aware that the drug companies (who will make enormous sums of money from the H1N1 vaccine) will have NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER if you are harmed by the H1N1 flu vaccine? Or any other vaccine, for that matter. They managed to get a law passed that transferred the liability to the government. So if you are harmed (and many WILL BE HARMED), you have to convince the government. Do you know why it is set up like that? Because vaccinations are good for the government in trying to keep a POPULATION from getting sick, but not good for the health of individuals. They EXPECT a certain number of people to be harmed, but it's worth it to them to get political points for stopping a (non-existent or inconsequential but potentially politically valuable) pandemic.

Please do some searches about the harm that vaccinations cause. (Not "might" cause, but DO cause.) Share that information with your employer. Refuse the vaccination. If they threaten to fire you, tell them you will sue (then do it!) Stay well by taking good care of yourself -- don't eat junk food or sugar, avoid alcohol and tobacco, drink plenty of water, get plenty of sleep and a little sunshine and exercise, wash your hands a lot, and above all: take plenty of Vitamin D! Many studies have shown that it can keep you from getting sick or help you get better faster (do some searches about that, too!).

Thank you Janet. Very concise and expresses my concerns as well. THANK YOU!

Janet couldn't agree with you more. I work at a healthcare facility and am not taking the vaccine and have not I have chosen to take care of my immune system through Vitamin D, olive leaf extract and other vitamins that will boost my immune system. I work in a Restaurant for the Independent Living as a Waitress and am being forced to wear a mask, even though I am not sick. How fair is that, not only that but everyone now knows that I did not take a flu shot, which I would think is a HiPPA violation, sure would like to know if there is anything I can do about this.

I am a caring person and feel I am being mistreated. I take care of myself better than some people at my work who have come to work with fevers, and yet have had the flu shot. How is this right?

Healthcare facilities must take every necessary precaution to protect the patients. I work at a hospital that has a seasonal and H1N1 flu shot requirement that states you either get the shot or must wear a surgical mask the entire flu season. I am adamant in not wanting the immunizations for flu, but I understand why they are necessary and not wanting to wear a mask for several months, I got the shots. We must do everything we can to prevent a pandemic and if that means requiring flu shots, we need to buck up and get them. Does your employer have an alternative (such as wearing masks)?

There is a chance it may be considered part of the general duty clause to provide a safe environment for all your employees. I think your rights though are going to vary a lot by state. In Mississippi, which is definitely an employer friendly state and where I currently work, unless you have a medical reason not to, I can not think of one legal reason they could not require it (note I did not say moral or ethical). My employer is giving them out free of charge to anyone who wants them, but is not mandating them. This is what I think employers should do, but that is my opinion. Personally, I am getting the shot. If they offer the H1N1, I will get it too. Yah, there is no proof of the efficacy, but those who know about the regular flu shot know that the shot contains three or four viruses that they think will be the "big illnesses" of the season. Sometimes they guess right, sometimes they are way off.

Wow, I did't think this would have so many opinions. Although I think it's inappropriate for the employer to MANDATE the shot, what's the problem with getting it? There are no reactions to it and it really does help - I've been getting it at least 5 years now and can honestly say I have not had a serious flu bug in years. You are in the healthcare industry, and even though not in direct contact with patients, you are at the first line of defense when people are sick. If you get the flu, everything you touch gets infected. Unless you have a physical reason not to get it, I think it's extremely important that everyone get the injection just so we can be as safe as possible

You SEEM to have won the gamble: you're betting that a vaccination will not cause a serious problem for you. You're HOPING that it will help you avoid getting sick (there's absolutely no way to tell. Just because you didn't get sick doesn't mean that the immunization worked). You have been lucky. . . or you think you have. All vaccinations cause reactions, but you may not notice them. They all contain 'adjuvants' to stimulate your immune system, which unfortunately have a side effect: they cause your brain's own immune system (yes, it has a little one of its own) to go into over-drive, and damage your own brain cells while over-reacting to the adjuvant. If your brain is fighting a normal infection, it usually takes only a few days before this reaction stops, and the body then repairs any damage done. But a vaccination can cause this reaction to continue for UP TO TWO YEARS. If you get a flu shot (or any other vaccination) every year, this over-reaction and the subsequent damage WILL NEVER STOP. As you age, it will become harder and harder for your body to deal with this damage, and you can end up with Parkinson's or Alzheimers at a relatively early age. What's that you say? We've all been getting more and more vaccinations at all ages over the years? And now there are lots and lots of people getting Alzheimers? Hmmmm. Maybe there's a connection! And this doesn't take into account the OTHER toxic material added to vaccines as a preservative (mercury, aluminum, squalene -- the worst one, and the one in H1N1 vaccine). You're making the drug companies rich, and helping the government feel that they're in control, but you're causing unknown yet significant damage to yourself and your children. Stop being a sheep and make the effort to learn what vaccination really does to you. Recommended Article: "Vaccines, Depression and Neurodegeneration After Age 50" by Russell L. Blaylock, MD, CCN (do a web search).

I worked in the medical field for several years. I was required to take not only the flu shot every year, but also to be up to date with other vactinations such as tetanus, and TB...

I work in healthcare and while not directly having patient care, am exposed to whatever goes around in the hospital. For that reason, I choose to get a flu shot. We have never been required to have one, just "strongly recommended". I've worked in 3 hospitals and flu shots have never been required.

Attended a legal seminar last week in which the attorney gave a legal caveat that employers should be very careful of the potential for workers comp. claims if they require their employees to obtain the flu shot. She mentioned one bad reaction to the vaccine based upon the employers requirement and well, you can imagine how this could be...not fun.

Also, beware of religious reasons for not getting the vaccine.

I work at an assisted living home and was just informed that if i dont get the flu or the h1n1 when its available, i will need to find other employment. They first handed me a statement already marked yes to the agreement of getting the vaccine, and all i had to do was sign it. I refused and wrote "do not want" . Now...im fearing im going to be out of a job. A few other members of the managment team approached me about this and wanted to know why i feel the need to refuse the vaccinations. The points i brought up were as followed:

1. if you work in a health care setting , one of the first skills you are taught and drilled into you is proper handwashing and infection control. If thats practiced what is there to worry about?

2. I have never had the flu nor the vaccination and fear of starting some health issues by recieving the vaccine

3. In ways being vaccinated is like having unprotected sex. Yes i agreed to do so, but at the end of it all im still going to cross my fingers and pray i didnt catch something

4. I have friends and family who have recieved it before and have gotten sick from it .

5. If the clients which i care for have the right to refuse a medication even though i think its best they should take it, i have to respect that right and not tell them if they dont take this , they have to find another place to live.

My logic may be off and i might be just an uneducated fool. In either case its my body, my choice and my RIGHT!

Because there is no correlation between actual harm and litigation? And you are thriving in an age where devesatating diseases such as smallpox and polio have been all but wiped out due to the diligence of those who lived before you through the use of vaccinations.

Health care workers have to wear gloves and scrub up to keep from spreading germs, viruses and infections amongst themselves and their patients. Requiring a flu shot is the same. You may not care if you get sick, but what about the infant who is too young, that you pass it on to because you didn't realize you had it until it was too late?

No one has died from getting the flu shot. People have died from the flu.

I am a healthcare worker and 8 months pregnant and my job just told us that we are required to get the flu vaccination or have a doctors excuse. If I do not, I am unable to work. My doctor wants me to get it also. I have not had the flu vaccination before and don't feel it is safe for me to take at this stage in my pregnancy since there are no know effects on the fetus. It has not been researched. Why would I want to put my baby at risk?