A bill that would allow hospitals to require clinical staff to get vaccinations for the flu and other contagious diseases is making its way through the Indiana General Assembly, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal.
If passed, hospitals could fire employees who refuse to get immunizations for certain diseases.
The current bill comes a year after a similar bill passed in the Indiana Senate but died after facing strong opposition in the House. That bill would have allowed hospitals to terminate the contracts of employees if they refused to get vaccines for the flu, measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis and meningococcal, according to the report.
The current bill, SB 133, is sponsored by Sen. Frank Mrvan. It would authorize hospitals to impose written policies regarding mandatory vaccinations in employment contracts. The bill exempts workers who would be medically hurt by a vaccine or if the vaccine violates their religious beliefs. However, the hospital would have the final say: "A hospital may establish a process for determining whether the tenets of the religion relied upon by an individual for the purposes of the exemption … prohibit the individual from receiving the immunization," the bill states, according to the report.