Nursing students troubled over H1N1 shot

Some students unsure about merits of H1N1 vaccine

Dalhousie nursing student Tammy Baxter closes her eyes as she receives her H1N1 vaccine. Photo by James Whitehead

When Victoria Holley, got the H1N1 flu shot, she wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Now, more than a week later, she is regretting the decision.

"If I could go back [in time] I wouldn't have got it," she said, "After being sick this week and going through the flu symptoms, which are really bad, I had to call in sick three days in a row."

As part of her nursing program, Holley, a third-year nursing student at Dalhousie University, is required to work in a clinical setting at a hospital. She says the only reason she got the vaccine was because she was feeling guilty about being the only one in her clinical group not to have the shot.

"I worry that maybe natural immunity is best and with the adjuvant added, I'm not really sure what that is or what's in it, and just adding extra preservatives to your body which is never very good," she said.

A sign in the hospital lunchroom stating the reasons for getting the H1N1 vaccine finally prompted Holley to get the shot.

"One of the reasons it said was that if you got the virus, you could pass it on to someone else, and they could die from it." she said, "That really scared me."

Kyle Perrott is also a nursing student at Dal. He is also in clinical but has not yet been vaccinated. He says he would get the shot, but he doesn't have enough time to wait in the line at the clinic. He says he only knows four of his classmates who have received the new vaccine.

"Everyone else is either not getting it or they're still waiting," he said. "They're uncertain of the vaccine because it came out so fast."

Perrott plans to get the shot but he still has reservations.

"It was approved in like two days," he said. "They say its exactly like the other flu shot but with a different viral injection in it, but the vaccine itself even looks different so I don't know."

Beth Halperin, professor at the Dalhousie School of Nursing, says the school can't force students to get the shot.

"We have chosen not to mandate it yet," she said, "But we are encouraging students to get it."

Halperin says it is a good idea for students going into clinical practice to get the shot in case the hospitals make it mandatory for health-care workers. In that event, the school would be unable to place the students in a clinical setting if they have not been vaccinated. It's a situation that would have devastating consequences since nursing students have to complete a clinical in order to graduate.

John Gillis, spokesperson for the QEII, says the policy for students is the same as the policy for staff; anyone in direct contact has to have had the H1N1 shot. If a student, or staff member did not have the vaccine, it may limit where they can work or be placed in clinical.

"But we're not preventing anyone from working." he said. "Staff who can't, or wont get the vaccine will just be redeployed to an area where they are not likely to come in contact with H1N1 patients."
Holley isn't so sure about that.

"I would say every floor of every hospital has clients with this virus now. So you could move a nurse anywhere, but they're going to come in contact with it," she said, "It's basically a scare tactic: get it or you're not going to be able to work."

Tammy Baxter is also a third-year nursing student at Dal. She was happy to get her H1N1 shot today at a clinic set up for health-care workers. She says she does have some fear of the vaccine, but over all, she has faith in the health-care system.

"I think they are trying to protect us to make sure we don't get viruses from our patients," she said, "They don't want us to get it and make ourselves sick so that as nurses we can't treat the general population and do our job."

Holley isn't convinced. She thinks there is too much controversy over the H1N1 virus for students to know what is true about it. She also feels she did not get enough education on the vaccine from her professors. Most of the information she got was what she could find on her own. Even so, Holley says she still felt unprepared to make the decision to get the vaccine.

"I probably should have researched a bit more but I felt so pressured to do it," she said, "so I just went ahead and did it.

Comments on this story are now closed