[Does patient safety justify mandatory vaccinations?]. / Rechtfertigt der Patientenschutz verpflichtende Impfungen?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Medical and dental students belong to a group of health care workers (HCWs) who are frequently exposed to patients with occupationally transmissible infectious diseases. Vaccinations are the most effective interventions to protect HCWs and patients from vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. Despite decades of effort to encourage HCWs to be immunized, vaccination levels (e. g. influenza) remain insufficient. METHODS: To assess the attitudes of German medical and dental students towards mandatory immunizations, an anonymous questionnaire was offered to medical and dental students of the University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Overall, 56.9 % (1823/3200) of all medical and dental students attended to the study. RESULTS: This study - so far the largest study done on this issue - showed that almost 88.5 % of the responding medical and dental students would accept mandatory vaccinations for HCWs. CONCLUSION: Contrary to the widespread concern that a vaccination requirement would cause resistance, our data support that mandatory vaccinations (at least for HCWs who care for immunocompromised patients) might be widely accepted.