Should You Ask If a Service Provider Has Been Vaccinated

AnnieA said:
Do staff wear masks at all times? Asking because if they're vaccinated and have mild cases, they may be afebrile and think they've got an allergy flare up but the vaccinated ill are still capable of infecting others ....especially so for vulnerable cancer patients. If they're not all masked, they certainly should be in oncology. The long-term care facilites I do consulting work for started back with the masks for all staff regardless of vaccination status weeks ago.
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They do wear masks. Most of them wear them incorrectly - with big gaps -- and covid is an airborne virus. Wearing a mask improperly in a medical setting is just so careless. Obviously no one in that medical setting is doing anything about it. These are the surgical masks you see all over the place.

I am much better masked, and correctly, than they are. I hope my strategy works.
 

win231 said:
But since a mask protects, & if they're wearing one, why would you be concerned about whether or not they were vaccinated?
And, if they were vaccinated, you're aware of the many breakthrough cases?
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The vast majority of Covid cases now are not breakthrough cases from unvaccinated people.
 
WheatenLover said:
I completely disagree with you. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center does not require its workers to be vaccinated. They will also not provide patients with vaccinated staff. I am being treated for a very aggressive cancer, and I do not appreciate unvaccinated people being around me without my knowledge.

I also, as do many cancer patients, have an immune system that is nearly worthless, due to the treatment. After going through treatment for more than a year, I am still stuck in my house and see no one except medical personnel daily, and my husband. I would be mad as hell if I caught Covid and died, after all that I have been through, and how extra careful I have been. I'd also be mad if my fellow cancer patients died because someone was too stupid to get vaccinated, especially for the reasons I have heard. I am fully vaccinated and so are the two people I spend time with (my daughter lives with me), except for medical personnel.

UPMC has 93,000 employees. 30% of them are not vaccinated.

Plus, I was not rude. I have a right to know whether medical personnel can kill me with Covid. It is a public health issue, all you have to do is read the news to find that out.
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Well put, WheatenLover, and I completely agree with you.

My daughter and SIL live near Pittsburgh, and that may be their nearest hospital. I will warn them about what you said. They are in good health and have been vaccinated, but still, people can land in the hospital for all kinds of reasons.

I'm wondering, when you say "workers," do you mean medical professionals are actually dumb enough not to get the vaccine? Or do you mean other kinds of workers in the hospital?
 

WheatenLover said:
I completely disagree with you. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center does not require its workers to be vaccinated. They will also not provide patients with vaccinated staff. I am being treated for a very aggressive cancer, and I do not appreciate unvaccinated people being around me without my knowledge.

I also, as do many cancer patients, have an immune system that is nearly worthless, due to the treatment. After going through treatment for more than a year, I am still stuck in my house and see no one except medical personnel daily, and my husband. I would be mad as hell if I caught Covid and died, after all that I have been through, and how extra careful I have been. I'd also be mad if my fellow cancer patients died because someone was too stupid to get vaccinated, especially for the reasons I have heard. I am fully vaccinated and so are the two people I spend time with (my daughter lives with me), except for medical personnel.

UPMC has 93,000 employees. 30% of them are not vaccinated.

Plus, I was not rude. I have a right to know whether medical personnel can kill me with Covid. It is a public health issue, all you have to do is read the news to find that out.
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I'm wondering if your doctor has explained to you that if your immune system is "nearly worthless," your vaccine can't protect you.
 
Sunny said:
Well put, WheatenLover, and I completely agree with you.

My daughter and SIL live near Pittsburgh, and that may be their nearest hospital. I will warn them about what you said. They are in good health and have been vaccinated, but still, people can land in the hospital for all kinds of reasons.

I'm wondering, when you say "workers," do you mean medical professionals are actually dumb enough not to get the vaccine? Or do you mean other kinds of workers in the hospital?
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I mean medical professionals.
 
WheatenLover said:
I asked the nurse at radiation oncology whether she had been fully vaccinated. She said she doesn't discuss her personal medical history with patients.

I thought about that for a few seconds. Then I told her it was a public health issue, not a personal one.

She replied, Well I think there are valid arguments on both sides.

Next, I am sending registered mail to the hospital administrator, each of the two doctors who work at radiation oncology, and the cancer center medical director. I am furious that some of the people who treat me for cancer may not be vaccinated, and that the hospital allows them to do so.

First, of course, I will find out if the hospital requires workers to be fully vaccinated for Covid, If not, why not? And if the answer is that there is a nursing shortage, I will suggest that they put a limit on how many unvaccinated people can be treated in the hospital at one time. That number would be based on how many vaccinated medical personnel they have in the hospital, since all the unvaccinated ones would have been fired. And it will also leave plenty of room for vaccinated people to be treated at the hospital.
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I'm so sorry you are going through this. It's just added stress for you on top of your cancer treatments.

Absolutely, you have every right to know if a nurse, doctor, etc., are vaccinated in a Cancer center! If they don't want to answer, ask them to remove themselves from your room and get someone in there that will and is vaccinated!

My husband has also been dealing with cancer. When we go to the oncologists office, the first thing I ask the nurse who is there to take his vitals, "are you fully vaccinated." Once, the young nurse answered no and added, her parents and sister all came down with covid. I immediately told her to leave the room and find someone who is vaccinated or we will walk out. I reamed the Doctor out for having someone like her on staff with all the cancer patients coming and going. We've never seen her there since.

I'll ask people until I'm blue in the face, if they are vaccinated, being around my husband and I, because his immune system isn't what it use to be. If they don't like it, too bad!
 
win231 said:
LOL. My mom thought she could "Read people like a book" and she constantly bragged about it.
Uh......trouble was........she was always wrong about everyone she read.
Another example of someone who thinks they have this...."Special" ability.
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If you say so....
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StarSong said:
Most people who aren't vaccinated wear their status like it's some kind of accomplishment. "Sticking it to the man" kind of thing.
Seems unlikely she would lie about it.
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Know you qualified with 'most' but I wish to goodness I didn't have autoimmune fears about the vaccine and could take it.

Also, there are previously infected, recovered people with natural immunity who forego the vaccine because they already have antibodies.

.
 
StarSong said:
Most people who aren't vaccinated wear their status like it's some kind of accomplishment. "Sticking it to the man" kind of thing.
Seems unlikely she would lie about it.
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^^^ That's an assumption with a purpose - to ridicule those who don't make the same decision you make to feel better about yourself.
In fact, it's the vaccinated who have a need to feel superior - as your example indicates.
 
win231 said:
^^^ That's an assumption with a purpose - to ridicule those who don't make the same decision you make to feel better about yourself.
In fact, it's the vaccinated who have a need to feel superior - as your example indicates.
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It's not an assumption with or without a purpose, it's an observation.
(My ego isn't so frail that my vaccination status affects it.)

AnnieA said:
Know you qualified with 'most' but I wish to goodness I didn't have autoimmune fears about the vaccine and could take it.

Also, there are previously infected, recovered people with natural immunity who forego the vaccine because they already have antibodies.
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It must be very scary to have autoimmune problems at any time, but especially so during Covid spikes.

Presumably the nurse in question would have specified that she had immunity via a previous Covid infection.
 
I understand a lot of people may disagree and that's ok..but I feel asking someone about their personal medical issues is inappropriate. When I had surgery on my toe and could barely get around, my doc made it possible for me to get a handicap pass for my vehicle. I was going in the store and a lady (an older lady) ask me, why are you parking there (in a handicap spot).. I told her, she look dumbfounded. I could have told her it was none of her business, which it wasn't. I will say this again and again, you have no idea what people are going through. A lot of people DO NOT want to discuss their medical issues with you. If you are vaccinated, RELAX. If you visit places and you are fully vaccinated and do not feel comfortable, WEAR A MASK.
 
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Ladybj said:
I understand a lot of people may disagree and that's ok..but I feel asking someone about their personal medical issues is inappropriate. When I had surgery on my toe and could barely get around, my doc made it possible for me to get a handicap pass for my vehicle. I was going in the store and a lady (an older lady) ask me, why are you parking there (in a handicap spot).. I told her, she look dumbfounded. I could have told her it was none of her business, which it wasn't. I will say this again and again, you have no idea what people are going through. A lot of people DO NOT want to discuss their medical issues with you. If you are vaccinated, RELAX. If you visit places and you are fully vaccinated and do not feel comfortable, WEAR A MASK.
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I was an aide for a lady with Cerebral Palsy. Sometimes I'd drive her somewhere & park & while I was getting her wheelchair or canes out of my trunk, someone would say, "Why are you parking in a handicapped space?"
Usually, I would say nothing. They'd watch me get my passenger out & not even say, "Oh, sorry," which would have made it OK.
One hectic day, after months of that crap, I'd had enough. A woman said, "Don't you see that's a handicapped space?"
I said, "It's too bad your brain doesn't work as well as your mouth."
 

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