Joint Commission Resources (JCR) reported a 13 percent increase in participation in its second-annual Flu Vaccination Challenge on Tuesday.

The program, geared toward increasing flu immunization rates among health care workers, was started in 2008, when the national average of health care worker immunization was 49 percent.

"[The goal] is to get as many people vaccinated in the country as possible," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine and professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "However, one of the things the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and other professional organizations have pointed out is that a recommendation for health care workers themselves to be vaccinated, so we don't spread influenza to our vulnerable patients, is lagging."

This year, nearly 1,100 health care organizations across the nation participated in the JCR challenge, by encouraging their employees to get the seasonal flu vaccine. Of the 855 organizations that submitted their data, 85 percent met the challenge by achieving a rate of at least 65 percent of staff vaccination. Participating organizations reached a 76 percent flu vaccination average, which is a 13 percent increase from last year's challenge. The rate also surpasses the national average, according to the report.

"Going forward, we're not resting on our laurels here," Schaffner told DOTmed News. "This is a [continuous] quality improvement project."

Of the organizations that participated, 19 percent achieved gold vaccination level - 90 percent or higher vaccination rate; 35 percent achieved silver - 75 to 89 percent vaccination rate; and 31 percent achieved bronze - 65 to 74 percent vaccination rate. JCR plans to raise the bar for next year's program, Schaffner said.

The importance of health care worker vaccination uptake, Schaffner explains, is passing on the health-conscious efforts to patients, and providing a safe, healthy atmosphere for patients.

"If we could get health care workers vaccinated, they'd be more enthusiastic advocates of vaccination of patients, so we thought that might be a double whammy as it were," he says.

"We like to be able to assure the public that when they come seeking medical care, seeking health care, that during influenza season, they will enter an environment in a health care facility that is a cocoon of protection," Schaffner continued.

The general recommendation throughout the country, said Schaffner, is hospitals provide the vaccine to their employees at no cost. "Here at Vanderbilt, we wouldn't think of charging [health care workers]," he said.

New York State was the first to mandate health care workers receive the flu vaccine last year. That requirement was briefly lifted during the pandemic when there was a shortage of vaccines.

This flu season, CDC recommends that anyone age 6 months and older be vaccinated. The 2010-2011 vaccine includes the notorious H1N1 strain that plagued the globe this past year.

The challenge is open until Feb. 1, 2011.

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