Fewer doctors and nurses got their flu shots this past season than last year, CTV News has learned, leading some to question whether they should bother getting one themselves.
A new report from Ontario's Medical Officer of Health revealed that about 37 per cent of those working in acute care hospitals got their shot during the 2010-11 flu season, down from 42 per cent the previous year.
In the city's complex continuing care hospitals, the vaccination rate is 38 per cent, down from 55 per cent the year before.
Long-term care homes achieved the highest rate of 58 per cent in 2010-11, but even they fell from the 70 per cent they had the previous season.
This year's low flu shot totals have led some to question whether it should be mandatory for healthcare workers to receive the vaccine.
"It is a complicated business to see how to do it. The Board of Health doesn't have the authority to do it," said Medical Officer of Heath Dr. David McKeown.
Still, the decrease is concerning to some in the healthcare system, which has launched a series of campaigns over the years, urging workers to get immunized.
"The immunization rates for influenza among health care providers are clearly unacceptable. There is no question about that," said Kevin Katz, an infectious disease physician and medical microbiologist. "They should be higher. They should approach 100 per cent."
Katz has told the Board of Health that the rates need to come up in order to prevent the spread of influenza and save lives. He said studies have show that facilities with high flu vaccination rates have fewer deaths.
Nurse Andrea Robeiro says she got her flu shot this year but that many of her colleagues are reluctant.
"Things change every year and it's not the same flu shot and it's not the same strain, so there is really little evidence to show how effective it is," Robeiro told CTV Toronto.
