DENVER — With flu season beginning earlier than normal and the COVID-19 pandemic still prevalent, medical experts say everyone should get a flu shot this year. But this doesn't mean it's required to do so for the general public. But what about health care workers?
The 9NEWS Verify team spoke with medical groups around the state if there were different rules for those working in hospitals, doctor's offices or senior care facilities.
THE QUESTION:
Are flu shots mandatory for health care workers during the pandemic, and if so, what's the consequence if they don't get one?
THE ANSWER:
Generally, yes. If the medical facility doesn't require 100% of its staff to be vaccinated, it typically has a policy where a vast majority of the staff needs to have received a flu shot. There are limited medical and religious exemptions offered.
WHAT WE FOUND:
According to the medical officials we spoke to, most health care workers in Colorado have actually been required to get flu shots for nearly a decade.
Dr. Michelle Barron is the medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at UCHealth University Hospital. She said UCHealth began requiring anyone who works at their hospitals to get a flu shot around 10 years ago to protect its patients.
"Everybody that works in the UCHealth system, regardless of your role, has to get a flu shot every year," Barron said. "We've been very successful in terms of getting that done every year and our rates of compliance are 99% or 100% every year."
The general rule is if you don't want to get a flu shot, you don't get hired barring a serious medical or religious objection. A spokesperson for Denver Health said they have the same policy.
At senior care facilities, there's a similar practice. Doug Farmer, President and CEO of Colorado Health Care Association, said the state has been regulating the way employees are vaccinated since 2012.
"State regulation requires facilities to ensure that at least 90 percent of their employees and contractors have received immunizations each year," Farmer said.
Barron said these policies are there to protect patients more than anything else since you don't typically go to a medical facility unless you're already at a higher risk to get sick.
"We have a choice to work in health care, our patients don't," Barron said. "It's on us to make sure that we do everything we can to make sure they don't get sick."
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The biggest difference this year is that these facilities are widely offering flu shots to anyone who comes through the door. At UCHealth, you can even get one in the emergency room.
"Maybe that's the one time you're going to see a clinician over the next year or next six months, and that's our opportunity to give you your flu shot if you want," Barron said. "It's part of our campaign to get flu shots out in any which way we can."
Health care experts agreed, the flu is one virus a vaccine exists for, so taking precautions to make sure flu cases are down this year frees up hospital beds for a potential surge in COVID patients this fall and winter.
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