A study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology examined the effect of mandatory and nonmandatory influenza vaccination policies on both vaccination rates as well as absenteeism among healthcare workers.
Researchers conducted the retrospective observational cohort study at three university medical centers with mandatory flu vaccination policies and four Veterans Affairs healthcare systems with nonmandatory vaccination policies.
Researchers included 2,304 outpatient healthcare workers at mandatory vaccination sites and 1,759 outpatient workers at nonmandatory vaccination sites. They performed the study over three viral respiratory illness, from 2012 through 2015. Study participants reported their flu vaccination status and symptomatic days absent from work every week for 12 weeks during the peak illness season each year.
The study shows the proportion of participants who received the flu vaccine was lower at nonmandatory sites each year as compared to mandatory vaccination sites. Of healthcare workers who reported at least one sick day, vaccinated workers had fewer days of absenteeism compared to workers who were not vaccinated.
"These data suggest that mandatory [healthcare worker] influenza vaccination policies increase influenza vaccination rates and that [healthcare worker] symptomatic absenteeism diminishes as rates of influenza vaccination increase," study authors concluded.