Refusing to get a flu shot has cost a pregnant Pennsylvania nurse her job.
Dreonna Breton denied the flu shot out of miscarriage fears and also stated there were limited studies supporting the theory of immunization being good pregnant women. But the officials at Horizons Healthcare Services, her workplace, fired Breton saying she did not abide by with company rules of getting the influenza vaccine.
According to WGAL, Breton lost her babies twice this year, and was worried that the shot might be harmful for her pregnancy,
"I'm a healthy person. I take care of my body. For me, the potential risk was not worth it," Breton told CNN Sunday. "I'm not gonna be the one percent of people that has a problem."
The 29-year-old also said she told her hospital officials that she would wear a mask at work as a possible alternative solution, reported Fox News.
"I want to give this baby the best shot that I can," she told WGAL. "There are just things in the flu vaccine that are not known, like how it affects my growing baby."
Also, a midwife of Breton requested the hospital to excuse Breton from taking the shot. However, her request was denied by the authorities.
According to company spokesman Alan Peterson, it is unconscionable for a person from heath care department not to be immunized. Moreover, pregnant women had higher chances of getting the flu.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also states that flu vaccination is the best protection pregnant women and her babies can get. "I know that the CDC says to get it, and that's fine, but it was our choice to avoid the flu vaccine and the unknowns that come with that," Breton told CNN.
She, also, maintained that she would not get flu shot. "I do believe I did the right thing, and the right outcome will happen," she told WGAL.
Around 200,000 flu cases are reported every year, federal officials stated.
