While many students are rushing to receive their free shots from University Health Services before they are hit by the brunt of flu season, one Wisconsin lawmaker is putting his foot down against required vaccinations.
Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac, proposed a bill that will make it illegal for employers to fire employees for not getting a flu vaccination.
The law states an employer can mandate their employees to get the flu vaccine or fire them for not doing so, Hariah Hutkowski, Thiesfeldt’s spokesperson, said. Currently, only people with medical and religious excuses may be exempt. The bill states people should be able to choose if they want the vaccine or not, without being fired for their decision, Hutkowski said.
“We have to remember every person should have the personal freedom to make their own health care decisions,” Hutkowski said.
Getting a flu vaccination is a condition of employment at some organizations, making it a legitimate reason to fire someone for not doing so, Hutkowski said. This means the individual cannot claim unemployment if they are fired.
Currently, only health care organizations have made flu vaccinations mandatory for employees and in some cases, employees of associated businesses, Hutkowski said. Agnesian HealthCare is one such organization. Steve Little, president and CEO of Agnesian HealthCare, said 99.5 percent employees get the vaccine because of this.
Agnesian HealthCare made the vaccine mandatory because more than 10 percent of its employees elected not to get the vaccine unless their employment depended on it, Little said.
Up to 60 percent of employees would voluntarily get vaccinated during this time. After making the vaccine mandatory, the organization made the vaccine available for free to employees, increasing the rate of vaccinated employees to 99.5 percent.
“We made it available for free, and they took it upon themselves because they believed it could help to do that,” Little said.
Some health care organizations such as Meriter, University of Wisconsin Health and ThedaCare allow exemption based on personal reasons, Hutkowski said. The bill does not condemn organizations that encourage — but do not force — their employees to get vaccinated. It also targets all kinds of organizations and employers, he said.
Hutkowski said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the flu vaccine was only 23 percent effective in 2014, and even in years when the correct strain is predicted, the vaccine is only 60 percent effective.
But Little said there is data indicating otherwise. There were fewer influenza-related deaths in Fond du Lac County, where Agnesian HealthCare is based, as a result of the mandatory vaccinations. The vaccine is far from perfect and has different levels of effectiveness each year, he said, but not having it at all could make everyone more susceptible to contracting influenza.
“If we saved one life as a result of [mandatory flu vaccinations], then we believe that that’s worth some of the consternation that it causes with some of our associates,” Little said.
Hutkowski said mandating vaccinations could create a hole in the workforce for organizations because some people do not want to take them. He said it is also not possible for such organizations, especially hospitals, to control every visitor to their patients.
Hutkowski said the bill is moving ahead in state Senate discussions this year and has been discussed with Wisconsin Hospital Association’s representatives. He said these representatives will hopefully try to persuade their members not to mandate flu vaccinations, but simply encourage them.
“Essentially, it’s a personal liberty discussion that everyone should have the ability to say, ‘No, I don’t want that medical treatment on myself to keep my job,'” Hutkowski said.
Lawmakers involved with the bill are currently waiting for the Wisconsin Hospital Associations representatives’ response.
