Immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases should be required for healthcare workers as a condition of employment, a prominent group of infectious disease specialists said.
Released by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the Sept. 17 statement says that healthcare workers should be required to get CDC-recommended vaccines, and exceptions should only be allowed for medical reasons.
The statement also recommends that healthcare workers routinely assess their patients' immunization status and strongly recommend appropriate vaccinations, and that attendees and staff of childcare facilities and schools should be held to immunization requirements as well.
The statement was written by 14 infectious diseases experts and published in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
"Millions of lives have been saved, and debilitating diseases have been prevented through vaccinations," said David J. Weber, MD, co-lead author of the statement and a member of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America's board of trustees. "It is critical that we continue to use immunizations to the fullest degree possible to keep vaccine-preventable illnesses in check in the U.S."
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