Educate workers about the risks for them, their patients, and their families, and ensure that they have the freedom to decline the vaccine without being discriminated against at work.
Provide free and confidential screening for everyone volunteering for the vaccine – to make sure no one who is particularly vulnerable is given the vaccine.
Protect vulnerable patients from being exposed to workers who have had the vaccine, and inform them of the safeguards that have been put into place.
Ensure that people who receive the vaccine do not face loss of income if they can’t work as a result. Experts say approximately 1 in 3 people who are vaccinated will feel too sick to work and provide proper patient care for one or more days.
Compensate people injured by the vaccine. As many as 10 percent of the people receiving the vaccine could have a life threatening reaction, and one or more people could die.
Administer the vaccine with safe needles. The 50 million needles the government plans to ship with the vaccine do not comply with the federal law passed to protect against HIV and hepatitis being transmitted from accidental needle sticks. Individual hospitals can purchase safer needles for only pennies more per needle.
Monitor volunteers who receive the vaccine to protect any accidental transmission of the vaccinia virus and so any adverse effects can be tracked by the federal government so the public can fully evaluate the risk of the vaccine.
