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TRENTON – In the midst of what may be the worst flu season in a decade, a bill sponsored by Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vitale that would require health care facilities to offer flu shots to their employees was unanimously approved today by the Senate Committee.

“A flu shot is simply the best and easiest way to prevent against getting and spreading the flu,” said Senator Vitale, D-Middlesex. “For those individuals – such as health care workers – who work closely with people who are sick and elderly, this is not about just protecting themselves, but about protecting those who are most vulnerable to the illness. In 2011, more than 50,000 people died from the flu, with a disproportionate amount being over the age of 65 or with chronic health conditions – the type of people who frequent medical facilities. For the protection of the patients and of health care employees, health care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes have a professional and ethical responsibility to provide access to this vaccine.”