Do assisted living places require flu/pneumonia vaccines?

Everyone is entitled to their own ideas about this, but I personally am opposed to it being a requirement. Or at least there should be objections. Encourage it if they want, but no one should be forced. Family Medicine doc had to follow protocol of his institution and inform/ask if my 95 year old mom and 100 year old dad wanted pneumonia, but turned to me as well for input. I voted no. I've seen my dad have reactions and as much as of course I don't want him to get ill, I also wouldn't want to be responsible knowing how he has reactions to meds. Very personal decision IMO.

Shingles itself is not contagious. But, I remember once we had a patient who had dismemtinmated herpes zoster which is equivalent to chicken pox. We had this during the Christmas holiday. People born in the US had positive titers. They had chicken pox and where able to work. The problems where the women and men who never had the Chicken Pox also, the Filipinos never had chicken pox and had negative titers. The incubation period was 3 weeks. They couldn't work. The patient was put in a private room with a private bathroom and placed on precautions.

Yes they do they will loof at admission papers to determine if they need the pneumococcal vaccine everyone should have 3 in their lifetime. This is recorded and dated on the first page of their medical chart. Problem list. Also, everyone is given the flu shot yearly and if recorded in the progress notes and dated. Unless they have an allergy to eggs or components of the shot. Staff are also required to have the flu shot too.

I think that flu shot is mandatory to long term care employees (www.infolongtermcare.org/iltc-news/cdc-flu-shots-mandatory-ltc-employees/ ) since they are the ones who handle long term care recipients and if someone among them is affected, they might be spreading the disease to seniors and care recipients who are frail and are therefore susceptible to illness. But the CDC requested that care recipients and families who visits also get a flu shot. It may be varied depending on the state.

Its more than just mandatory shots that keep me from "placing" my MIL (and we don't even get along!). Please be mindful that if your loved one is going to reside in Assisted Living, they may not have 24-hour nursing on-site, and a nursing assistant/tech may be passing medications. Again, each state is different, so please do your homework and do not assume anything.

My mom is allergic to the flu shot. She has also never had shingles or chicken pox. Either has my husband and I. Reading this gives me another reason to be happy we have my mom living at our house - no need to worry about exposure to this stuff.

I would probably call another ALF (assisted living facility) and ask if it is a state requirement. ;) OR you might call your County Health Department and ask if they know...OR you can also call your County Long Term Care Ombudsman and ask if they can find out if this is correct. To find the Ombudsman, contact your County Area Agency on Aging. Each state is different when it comes to such rules.

Get all the shots you can to protect yourself.

For my mom in TX NH, they are not required by state law to get any vaccines, however the facility can require that they are current with this season's flu and have a pneumonia done within the past 10 years. Both of my mom;s NH have required both on file to be a resident. Mom's current NH also has a new MRSA protocol that I had to agree to for her resident contract to be renewed. Nothing on shingles.

Is Shingles Contagious?
Yes, but not in the way you may think. Your shingles rash will not trigger an outbreak of shingles in another person, but it can sometimes cause chickenpox in a child. People who've never had chickenpox, or the vaccine to prevent it, can pick up the virus by direct contact with the open sores of shingles. So keep a shingles rash covered and avoid contact with infants, as well as pregnant women who have never had chickenpox or the varicella vaccine.