declining vaccines

Hi,

Has anyone submited a declination form for the yearly flu vaccines and tdap as a nursing student and succeeded in Texas?
I'm pretty sure that since hospitals (clinical placements) can put whatever requirements/restrictions they want, nursing school is not going to accept it, since if you don't get required vaccines, you will not be allowed to participate in clinicals.

while not in TX I will tell you that more often than not its the hospitals that require the vaccinations in order for you to do clinical. No shots, no clinical, no passing the course. I know some people are anti flu vax but why no tdap? If you're doing OB clinical and you don't get a tdap, you can infect a helpless infant with Pertussis and wind up killing them.

It also appears that students enrolled in healthcare programs in Texas have special requirements with regards to immunizations.http://info.sos.state.tx.us/pls/pub/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tl oc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=25&pt=1&ch=97&rl=64

Texas has adopted the CDC recommendations for vaccinations, which include the flu vaccine and TDaP. If a hospital is accredited by JCthe expectation is that students, contract, agencies, per diem----anyone caring for a patient will be treated like a regularly hired staff member. So you may need the vaccines to be allowed in the hospital. In our facility, following CDC guidelines, if you decline the flu vaccine you can wear a mask from October thru end of March. Be aware that once you are licensed you will be needing these titers and vaccines anyway, so might as well take the plunge. If you become a carrier you can make many people sick and some might die. It is not worth the risk for you or others.

Hope not.

I don't know about Texas but I can say with some degree of confidence that a student without a current TDaP would not have been allowed to participate in clinicals at my school. When I was doing my Pedi Clinical, there was a pertussis outbreak in the hospital I was at (none of those in my clinical group were exposed) and we were all required to get boosters.

I'm not in Texas but for my program we are only allowed to decline Hep B. If we refuse any other vaccine we are removed from the program.

OP....do you have more info on why you're asking?

Yeah, why would you want to decline them unless you're allergic?

Quote from HexYeah, why would you want to decline them unless you're allergic?

I'm trying to understand why you would refuse. You are entering the nursing field. You should at this point be educated enough about vaccines to know that we need them. If you do not want them, then you need to go into another line of work. To me it's hypocritical to work in the medical field and not get vaccinated.

Quote from HeathermaizeyI'm trying to understand why you would refuse. You are entering the nursing field. You should at this point be educated enough about vaccines to know that we need them. If you do not want them, then you need to go into another line of work. To me it's hypocritical to work in the medical field and not get vaccinated.