Thirty-two Oklahoma hospitals and specialty hospital units have met the Oklahoma Hospital Association’s challenge to achieve a healthcare worker flu vaccination rate of 96% or higher during the 2021-2022 flu season.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): “Influenza imposes a significant health burden on people in the United States each year. The CDC estimates that the flu has caused between 9.2 million and 35.6 million illnesses, between 140,000 and 710,000 hospitalizations, and between 12,000 and 56,000 deaths per year since 2010.
“And the risk of flu complications is higher among the types of people admitted to our hospitals,” said The Wanna Halstead, Vice President of Quality and Clinical Initiatives, Oklahoma Hospital Association. “These hospitals have developed policies and processes that ensure their patients and employees are protected.”
Hospitalized patients are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of influenza because their immune systems are often compromised by the illness that prompted their admission or by the treatments they are undergoing. Vaccination of healthcare workers has been shown to prevent illness and death in patients and reduce influenza and absenteeism. The CDC has recommended annual vaccination of healthcare workers since 1984.
Several key national professional organizations have approved mandatory policies for influenza vaccination as a condition of employment in health care facilities, including the American Hospital Association. In 2011, the Oklahoma Hospital Association Board of Directors developed a position statement calling for mandatory flu policies.
The hospitals and units achieving the 96% vaccination rate are:
Arbuckle Memorial Hospital, Sulfur
Bethany Children’s Health Center
Cordell Memorial Hospital
Duncan Regional Hospital
Duncan Regional Hospital – Inpatient Rehabilitation
Fairview Regional Medical Center
Cushing’s Hillcrest Hospital
Hillcrest Pryor Hospital
Jefferson County Hospital, Waurika
Lawton Indian Hospital
McAlester Regional Health Center
Mercy Health Love County, Marietta
Ada Mercy Hospital
Mercy Hospital Ada – Hospital Behavioral Health
Mercy Hospital Ada – Inpatient Rehabilitation
Mercy Hospital Ardmore – Main Behavioral Health Unit
Mercy Hospital Kingfisher
Mercy Hospital Logan County, Guthrie
Oklahoma City Mercy Hospital
Hospital of Mercy Tishomingo
Mercy Hospital Watonga
Mercy Oklahoma City Rehabilitation Hospital
Mercy Oklahoma City South Rehabilitation Hospital
Okeene City Hospital
Oklahoma Heart Hospital, Oklahoma City
Oklahoma Heart Hospital South, Oklahoma City
Share Medical Center, Alva
Stillwater Medical Blackwell
Stillwater Medical Center
Stillwater medical perry
Tulsa Spine and Specialty Hospital
Weatherford Regional Hospital
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