Benefits of flu vaccine mandates partially offset by risk for other respiratory infections
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Mandated influenza vaccination was associated with a decreased risk for influenza among health care personnel but an increased risk for other respiratory infections, partially offsetting the benefits of such policies, researchers reported.
The study was conducted in four Department of Veterans Affairs health systems and three non-VA medical centers.
Source: Adobe Stock.
According to the authors, previous research has suggested that recipients of influenza vaccination report more symptoms of acute respiratory illness caused by noninfluenza pathogens than unvaccinated people. Another explanation for the association between influenza vaccination and a risk for other respiratory infections is that vaccinated health care personnel (HCP) may experience decreased influenza illness-associated viral interference.
“Regardless of explanation, this finding is a reminder that vaccination should be utilized along with other control measures, such as source control masking and hand hygiene, when caring for patients with respiratory viral infections,” Michael S. Simberkoff, MD, an infectious disease specialist with the Veterans Affairs New York Harbor Healthcare System and New York University Grossman School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote.
Simberkoff said the study came out of the larger ResPECT trial, which compared the efficacy of N95 masks with medical masks in preventing influenza and other respiratory infections among HCP.
“Our study facilities consisted of four VA facilities that did not mandate influenza vaccination for HCP and three non-VA facilities that did mandate vaccination,” he said. “We decided to look at influenza and other infections in the two groups.”
Simberkoff and colleagues analyzed rates of influenza and other viral causes of respiratory infections among HCP working in outpatient sites at the four VA health systems without mandatory influenza vaccination policies and three non-VA health systems with mandatory influenza vaccination policies.
Overall, the study showed that influenza vaccination was associated with a decreased risk for influenza (OR = 0.17; 95% CI, 0.13-0.22) but an increased risk for other respiratory viral infections (incidence rate ratio = 1.26; 95% CI, 1.02-1.57).
Additionally, a fitted regression model suggested that if influenza vaccination rates in clinics where vaccination was not mandated equaled those where vaccinaton was mandated, influenza infections among HCP would have been reduced by 52.1% (95% CI, 51.3%-53%), according to the study.
“I believe that mandating flu vaccination for HCP has benefits,” Simberkoff said. “The take- home message, however, is that other strategies must also be employed. These most definitely include wearing masks and careful hand-washing when in close contact with patients with respiratory infections.”
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts