Swine flu Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Swine flu - Essay Example partment of Health in the UK also reports that the swine flu vaccine can offer the pregnant woman and her foetus some form of protection against the disease and concerns over safety are baseless (Press Association, 2009). In order to ensure the safety of the mother and her baby, medical health workers need to be mandatorily included in the vaccination program for swine flu. This is to be imposed in the coming winter months for all health workers (Stein, 2009). The Civil Contingencies Act of 2004 expresses that in instances of National Emergency, previous laws may be overruled. Emergency situations, in these instances include epidemics or a situation which causes serious human illness in the United Kingdom (section 19). The right to refuse treatment and the patient’s right to consent is overruled in this case because the life of the pregnant women and the population in general is endangered. The side effects which sometimes manifest after the administration of the swine flu vaccine, based on reports by experts covering hospitals in Canada, the United States, and Finland are baseless. Reports of Guillain-Barre and spontaneous abortions in these women have not necessarily been associated with the vaccine. So far figures do not exceed baseline parameters pointing to a definite link between these two (AP, 2009). Based on a patient’s Right to Self-determination, a patient has the right to refuse treatment and consequently, he has the right to refuse vaccination (Mental Health Act, as quoted by Leino-Kilpi, 2000). Reports from Medstar in America indicate that exemptions for health employees are being allowed as reasons for not being vaccinated against swine flu. These exemptions include: egg allergies or risk factors for a rare complication known as Guillain-Barre syndrome (Stein, 2009). Religious reasons are not being allowed as exemptions for this vaccination (Stein, 2009). Brewington, K., 2009, Swine flu vaccine: just one dose needed for pregnant women,