Health-care workers steer clear of swine flu vaccine:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104555§ionid=3510210

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:24:05 GMT

While the world waits for an effective swine flu vaccine, a new study finds that the majority of health-care workers refuse to take the vaccine due to its possible side effects.

A/H1N1 has already infected some 182,166 individuals and has claimed the lives of at least 1,799 people across the globe.

Recent guidelines released by the World Health Organization have placed health-care workers among the first people to be inoculated against swine flu, not only to protect them against the virus but to protect their patients.

Many of them, however, have made it obvious that they are unwilling to be vaccinated.

According to a study published in British Medical Journal, more than half of health-care workers around the world are worried about the side effects of the new vaccine.

Doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccine are also reported as another main reason for them declining the vaccine.

"Like the lay population, they assume they won't need the shot because they don't think they will get the flu," said George Annas.

Vaccination is considered as one of the potentially effective measures to tackle the spread of the virus and its complications. Its effectiveness, however, depends on the individual's uptake rate.