Health care workers rally to 'stop the shot'

ALBANY -- Health care workers from across New York State rallied on the steps of the state Capitol Tuesday to protest a new state health department rule requiring them to get a flu shot or get fired.

Check out our Rally Photo Gallery. Send us your photos by clicking here!

The state Health Department issued an emergency ruling in August that requires all health care workers in hospitals, public health clinics, hospices and in home health care be immunized against seasonal and swine flu. It makes an exception for workers with medical conditions that would prevent them from getting the shots.

Kim Beck, a registered nurse in Poughkeepsie, said she would rather lose her job than take the vaccination.

"We were told we were going to be vaccinated to protect the patients, but who protects us?" she said.

Some health care workers claim flu vaccines, along with the H1N1, or swine flu, vaccine have not been fully tested.

New York is the only state in the nation to require health care workers to get vaccinations against the various strains of the seasonal flu.

At a press conference at the Corning Tower in Albany, State Health Commissioner Richard Daines said vaccinations are the best way to protect patients in hospitals.

"Vulnerable, unimunized people come to hospitals and they ought to have an assurance hopsitals workers have done everything they can to protect them. And the best protection is to have them to be immunized," he said. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the H1N1 vaccine is safe and produces a powerful immune response.

Health care workers in nursing homes are currently excempt. Legislation that would requirement them to get the shots is in the works, according to the health department.

Health care workers have until November 30 to get the shot or get fired.