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UFT: School staff should be priority for vaccine
Oct 29, 2009 2:56 PM
But program should be voluntary, Mulgrew adds
Teachers and other school staff should be among the groups given preference for the swine flu vaccine if they want it, UFT President Michael Mulgrew said.
“It’s a real concern and an issue for our members,” Mulgrew said. “Teachers and other staff members who want to be vaccinated should have access to the vaccine since schools were ground zero for the spread of the virus last spring.”
If supplies are limited, Mulgrew added, teachers and staff who are especially vulnerable — such as pregnant women, those with chronic respiratory conditions and those undergoing chemotherapy — should be offered the vaccine first.
The UFT has been working with the city’s Department of Health to advocate for more vaccine for New York City, where there is currently a shortage.
The union does not take a position on whether or not individual members should be vaccinated, other than that the choice to do so should be voluntary.
“All UFT members should speak with their doctor to decide whether or not to be vaccinated,” Mulgrew advised. “Your physician can help guide your decision based upon your personal risk factors and can also recommend whether the flu mist or injection is best suited to your individual circumstances if you choose to be vaccinated.”
Guidelines for flu prevention, which are posted on the UFT Web site, include good hygiene with frequent hand washing, isolation for those with the illness, and transparency of the illness data posted on a school-by-school basis on the DOE Web site.
In testimony to the New York State Assembly on Oct.13, Chris Proctor, the coordinator and industrial hygienist for the UFT Health Department, acknowledged the improvements in this year’s school preparedness plan for a possible H1N1 outbreak, which came about with collaboration between the UFT and the DOE and DOH last spring. She added, however, that “more can still be done.”
The union is recommending:
- a nurse in every public school;
- making the vaccine available to all school staff on a voluntary basis only;
- accommodations for school staff who do not have enough sick days or those staff members at risk for complications from the flu who are advised to stay home by their physician when there is flu in the school;
- paid sick days in the private sector so that parents can stay home with sick children; and
- N95 respirators for nurses and personnel staffing isolation rooms housing students with H1N1 or influenza-like illness.
At press time, there were no reports of clusters of flu in any New York City school since schools opened in September.
