B2 - Clinicians - after flu

AGENCY
NAME

Flu Vaccine Information for Health Care Workers
If you work in health care, get a flu vaccine every year.

 s a health care worker, you have an important role to play in
A
preventing flu-related illness and death. When you get vaccinated
against the flu, you help many people stay healthy — especially
high-risk patients.

You can set a good example by getting vaccinated and spreading
flu facts —instead of the flu.
CDC, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP),
and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee
(HICPAC) recommend that all health care workers in the U.S. get
a flu vaccine annually.
Why is it important to get the flu vaccine?
Why do I need the vaccine?
Where can I get the vaccine?
How does the flu spread?
What does research say about the flu vaccine?
How many health care workers got the vaccine last year?
How does the flu vaccine work — and is it safe?
What types of flu vaccine are available?
What does the 2011-2012 vaccine protect against?
Why is it necessary to get a flu vaccine every year?
Where can I get more information?

Why is it important to get a flu vaccine?
• By getting a flu vaccine, you can
help protect your patients, coworkers,
family, and yourself from the flu.

• The flu can be serious. It can lead
to missed work, hospitalization
and sometimes even death.
• You can catch the flu from anyone
who has it — including patients
and coworkers.
• If you get the flu, you can spread
it to others even if you don’t feel sick.

Spread flu facts — instead of the
flu. Get vaccinated every year.

Why do I need the vaccine?
As a health care worker, there’s a good chance that you’ll be caring
for or around people who are at higher risk of serious flu complications
(like pneumonia). Even if getting the flu might not be serious for you,
you could pass it to someone who might get very sick or die.

People at high risk of serious complications from the flu include:
• Older adults
• Pregnant women
• Very young children
• People with long-term conditions like asthma, heart disease,
diabetes, among others

Where can I get the vaccine?
• Ask your employer if you can get a free or low-cost
flu vaccine at work.
• Find a convenience clinic at a store or pharmacy near you that
offers the flu vaccine. Use the Flu Vaccine Finder to find a flu vaccine
location near you, http://flushot.healthmap.org/.
• Ask your healthcare provider to give you the flu vaccine.

How does the flu spread?
Usually, flu viruses spread when someone who has the flu coughs, sneezes,
or talks. The virus travels in tiny droplets of moisture that come out of the
sick person’s mouth and can land in someone else’s mouth or nose. This
can happen across a distance of up to 6 feet.
Less often, the flu spreads when a person touches something that has flu
virus on it, and then touches his or her mouth, eyes, or possibly their nose.
It can take 1 to 4 days for symptoms of the flu to begin after someone gets
infected. You could pass the flu to someone else before you even know
you’re sick. Adults can infect others from 1 day before symptoms
develop until 5 or 7 days after becoming sick.

Days an Adult is Contagious:

Syptoms
Appear

Children may be contagious for even longer. Some people can be infected
with the flu virus and never show symptoms — but they can still spread
the virus to others.

What does research say about the flu vaccine?
• R
 esearchers found an association between vaccination of healthcare
workers and reduced cases of the flu and less missed time from work
due to respiratory infections among healthcare workers.
• R
 esearchers found an association between higher flu vaccination
levels among health care workers and reductions in flu-like illness
and total deaths in places such as nursing homes.

How many health care workers got the vaccine last year?
During the 2010-2011 flu season:

Researchers estimate that almost
2 out of 3 health care workers
(64%) got vaccinated against
the flu.

Almost all health care workers
(98%) got vaccinated against the
flu if their employer required it.

64%

98%

In workplaces where the flu vaccine wasn’t required,
more employees got vaccinated when employers offered
free vaccination onsite for multiple days.

During the 2009-2010 flu season:
Researchers estimated that about 62% of health care workers
got the seasonal flu vaccine. This is slightly less than the
number of health care workers vaccinated in 2010-2011.

How does the flu vaccine work — and is it safe?
Flu vaccines are designed to cause antibodies (proteins the body makes
to fight infection) to develop in your body about 2 weeks after you get
vaccinated. These antibodies can protect you if you’re infected later with
the flu virus.

Flu vaccines can’t cause the flu.
The flu vaccine cannot cause flu illness. It can cause mild side effects
that may be mistaken for flu. For example, people vaccinated with the flu
shot may feel achy and may have a sore arm where the shot was given.
People vaccinated with the nasal spray flu vaccine may have a stuffy nose
and sore throat. These side effects are NOT the flu. If experienced at all,
these effects are usually mild and last only 1 to 2 days.
Flu vaccines are safe.
Hundreds of millions of people over the past 50+ years have gotten
the flu shot. The flu vaccine has a very good safety track record.

What types of flu vaccine are available?
There are two types of flu vaccines: a shot and a nasal spray.
If you work with patients at higher risk: If you’re eligible to receive
the nasal spray, you can get it even if you’re in contact with newborns,
pregnant women, people with a solid organ transplant, people receiving
chemotherapy, or people with HIV/AIDS. And you don’t have to take
any special precautions after getting the vaccine (like wearing a mask or
gloves when you otherwise wouldn’t).
If you work with profoundly immune-compromised patients:
Health care workers who work with patients in special environments
such as bone marrow transplant units should not get the nasal spray.
This is an extra precaution and isn’t based on reports of vaccine virus
transmission in such settings.
If you’re in close contact with severely immune-compromised patients
who are being cared for in a protective environment, get a flu shot
instead of the nasal spray. If you do get the nasal spray, you must
avoid contact with immune-compromised patients for 7 days after
getting the vaccine.

What does the 2011-2012 flu vaccine
protect against?
The 2011–2012 flu vaccine was developed based on
recommendations from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)
• A/Perth/16/2009 (H3N2)
• B/Brisbane/60/2008
The viruses in this season’s vaccine are the same viruses that were
selected for the 2010-2011 flu vaccine for the United States. For more
information about how the viruses in the vaccine are selected, visit
Selecting the Viruses in the Seasonal Influenza (Flu) Vaccine. More
information about the vaccine virus selection process is available at
Vaccine Selection for the 2011-2012 Season.

Why is it necessary to get the flu vaccine every year?

The A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) virus

It’s important to get a flu vaccine every year because:

• Flu is unpredictable.
• Flu viruses are constantly changing.
• Your immunity from the vaccine decreases over time.
CDC recommends getting an annual flu vaccine as the first and best way
to protect against the flu. CDC recommends this even when the vaccine
composition (the viruses the vaccine protects against) is the same as it
was the previous season.
Over the year, your body’s level of immunity (your ability to make
antibodies) from last year’s vaccine has probably declined. This means
you may not have enough immunity to be protected from getting sick this
season. Getting the vaccine every year will help keep up your immunity.

Where can I get more information?
For more information, or to get free materials to educate staff and patients
about the benefits of the flu vaccine, visit CDC Seasonal Influenza (Flu).
You can also call the National Immunization Hotline at:
• (800) 232-2522 (English)
• (800) 232-0233 (español)
• (800) 243-7889 (TTY)

Additional Resources
CDC. Prevention and control of influenza with vaccines. Recommendations
of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2010.
MMWR 2010;59(No. RR-8).
Apisarnthanarak A, Uyeki T, Puthavathana P, Kitphati R, Mundy L.
Reduction of seasonal influenza transmission among healthcare workers
in an intensive care unit: A 4-year intervention study in Thailand. Infect
Control Hosp Epidemiol 2010; 31(10);996-1003.
Turnberg W, Daniell W, Duchin J. Influenza vaccination and sick leave
practices and perceptions reported by health care workers in ambulatory
care settings. Am J Infect Control 2010; 38(6):486-8.

Salgado CD, Giannetta ET, Hayden FG, Farr BM. Preventing nosocomial
influenza by improving the vaccine acceptance rate of clinicians. Infect
Control Hosp Epidemiol 2004;25:923--8.
Saito R, Suzuki H, Oshitani H, Sakai T, Seki N, Tanabe N. The effectiveness
of influenza vaccine against influenza A (H3N2) virus infections in nursing
homes in Niigata, Japan, during the 1998--1999 and 1999--2000 seasons.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2002;23:82--6.
Cunney RJ, Bialachowski A, Thornley D, Smaill FM, Pennie RA. An outbreak
of influenza A in a neonatal intensive care unit. Infect Control Hosp
Epidemiol 2000;21:449--54.
Carman WF, Elder AG, Wallace LA, et al. Effects of influenza vaccination
of health-care workers on mortality of elderly people in long-term care: a
randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2000;355(9198): 93--7.
Saxen H, Virtanen M. Randomized, placebo-controlled double blind study
on the efficacy of influenza immunization on absenteeism of health care
workers. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1999;18:779--83.
Wilde JA, McMillan JA, Serwint J, Butta J, O’Riordan MA, Steinhoff
MC. Effectiveness of influenza vaccine in health care professionals: a
randomized trial. JAMA 1999;281:908--13.
Potter J, Stott DJ, Roberts MA, et al. Influenza vaccination of health care
workers in long-term-care hospitals reduces the mortality of elderly
patients. J Infect Dis 1997;175:1--6.