Breaking News
R.I. becomes first state to mandate flu shots for health-care workers
So, the government, in an attempt to protect the citizens of Rhode Island and anybody who visits and needs to be seen by a "health-care worker" has mandated that all "health-care workers" get the "Flu Shot."
Heaven forbid these "health-care workers" are given the right that the rest of the public has in choosing to depend on their own immune system to protect them from getting the flu. Perhaps the state Department of Health will consider having ALL Rhode islanders get vaccinated, because after all, "health care workers" are people too, and deserve to be protected from the disease riddled public.
People call 911 for "flu-like symptoms" all day, every day, everywhere. They sneeze without covering their mouths, wipe snot on our towels, cough in our faces and take advantage of the "health care workers" who are now mandated to get a flu shot to in order to protect the citizenry.
Recently I was called to a doctor's office for a patient with a high fever who needed transport to the emergency room. Upon arrival, a CNA informed us that the patient was suspected of having bacterial meningitis. The patients guardian, who drove her to the clinic would follow us to the ER in her car.
"Meningococcal meningitis, a form of meningococcal disease, is a serious bacterial infection. Unlike viral meningitis, it can potentially kill an otherwise healthy young person within 1 day after the first symptoms appear.
Many of the people who survive meningococcal meningitis can be left with serious medical problems that may include amputation of limbs, fingers, or toes, severe scarring, brain damage, hearing loss, kidney damage, and psychological problems.
Common everyday activities can spread meningococcal disease. This includes kissing, sharing utensils and drinking glasses, living in close quarters such as a dormitory or summer camp, and smoking or being exposed to smoke. Activities that can make teens feel run down may also put them at greater risk for meningitis by weakening their immune system. These include staying out late and having irregular sleeping patterns."
As I sat with the patient in my enclosed capsule, ceiling vents running full tilt, side window open I ruminated on the absolute lack of consideration for the well being of the "Health-Care Workers." Even other health care workers willingly and without conscious expose us to contagious diseases. It is bad enough that the general public sees us as little more than vassals who get paid handsomely to contract their diseases while carting them from one health care facility to the other, but to hear that we are now "mandated" to get something we don't need, something that is controversial and often subjects otherwise healthy people to "flu-like symptoms" is just too much.
Who is looking out for the Health Care Workers?
Us, that's who. Nobody but us. They can take their flu shot and stick somebody else with it. I never had one, and I've never had the flu, and I have no intention of starting now.
You are right on the money with this one.
I wish you the absolute best in maintaining your right to say no to annual, sometimes completely useless, sometimes very harmful, flu shots. We should all have the right to say no to this medical intervention, and to any other medical intervention we do not wish to undergo. When did we wake up to find that we are slaves to an industry which has no liability for their medical product thanks to Congress? How did this happen, and how do we get our right to our God-given bodily integrity back from a greedy industry that does not care about any individual, but solely about guaranteed mandated profits?