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New Bill Would Make Employer-Required Flu Shots Illegal

State rep. Christian Hagan talks to reporters
Statehouse News Bureau

Some companies, especially those in the healthcare fields, require their employees to get flu shots each year. A newly released bill would make that requirement, for anyone, illegal.  

Republican Representative Christina Hagan says she hears from Ohioans who have been in their fields for decades, especially those in medical careers, who continue to lose their jobs or be penalized because they refuse to get a flu vaccine. She says there’s no good reason for any employer to require employees to get the shot.

“I think it’s wise to rely on data and there is no data that drives the opposition’s assumption.”

Hagan says people often get the flu despite getting the vaccine. And she says the flu shot can cause illness or even death for some people. The Ohio Department of Healthdoesn’t track flu deaths for adults 18 years of age or older but says a handful of children died from it last year. 

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.