According to the London Free Press, the Medical Advisory Committee will soon propose a rule that will ask doctors, dentists and mid-wives at London, Ontario hospitals to get flu jabs.

Dr. Chris Fernandes, head of the boards' medical advisory committee, told the newspaper that if the proposed rule is accepted by the board then it will be compulsory for all the medical practitioners working in London hospitals to get the influenza vaccine, providing they are not allergic to it.

The daily newspaper learns that the Medical Advisory Committee discussed the formulation of the new rule in public health citing the example of Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, Washington, were more than 99% of the workers are vaccinated against flu, due to the six years old rule that made flu shots mandatory.

Hopeful about the new rule, Chris Fernandes tells the daily broadsheet that if flu shots are made mandatory for doctors and healthcare professionals, it will inspire area residents to get vaccinated.

London Free Press notes that less than half of the healthcare workers at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) have received flu shots earlier this month and if the proposed rule is accepted it will make London hospitals a leader in Ontario, where vaccination rates for healthcare workers are significantly low.

The newspaper learns that public health officials have already made the flu jabs mandatory for healthcare workers, even though their own unions haven’t agreed to it. One of the public health officials told London Free Press that it is important to get flu shots as symptoms of influenza are not visible in 24 hours, hence many infected people continue to work, increasing the risk of spreading the infection.