OSLO, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Only one in four workers in Norway's health service are vaccinated against influenza and Oslo's vice mayor even promotes mandatory vaccination, public broadcaster NRK reported Saturday.
When so few doctors and nurses are vaccinated against influenza, weak patients are at risk to be infected, the report said.
"That is worrying," Tone Tellevik Dahl, Oslo's Vice Mayor for Primary Health and Social Services, told the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association and suggested "mandatory vaccination" against seasonal influenza for all the Oslo municipality's health personnel.
"When you know that influenza kills hundreds in Norway every single year, and we can prevent it with a small vaccine sting, I wish our staff to be vaccinated to protect more people," she said.
"I think it should be mandatory for healthcare professionals to get vaccinated," Tellevik Dahl said.
Line Orlund, Oslo county leader of the Norwegian Nurses League, said forcing health service employees to get vaccinated "will be an abuse."
"We are very optimistic that we will still get more to get vaccinated. But I am surprised that the vice mayor comes with such statements in the midst of the campaign (of vaccination)," she said.
"First, I think the vice mayor should give the campaign a chance to succeed before considering compulsion," Orlund said.
