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The United Nurses of Alberta, meanwhile, supported the idea of increasing the number of immunized health-care workers, but called for Alberta Health Servicesto stop pressuring workers to do so, saying the focus on immunizations was taking away from the larger measures to stop the spread of the flu.

“A higher percentage of immunized employees is certainly part of dealing with the challenge faced by Alberta Health Services, but we also need to be diligent about the other aspects of influenza control,” said UNA President Heather Smith in a news release last year. “UNA was pleased that Mr. Horne rejected the idea of a mandatory vaccination program, which we believe is both unethical and likely to be ineffective.”

Amid all of that, new numbers have been release saying the number of health-care workers last year topped 60 per cent, up from 54 per cent the previous year and 43.9 per cent the year before that.

Here are the numbers. Use the tabs at the top to see the immunization rates of different groups of the population. You can see the data here, and the original release by the province here).

So what do you think? The number of health-care workers being immunized is growing, but we want to know if you think that’s good enough. Other provinces require health-care workers to be immunized, so it is time for similar legislation in Alberta?

What about other segments of the population? Should more be done to encourage flu shots, or is that the wrong approach?

Let us know what you think using the comments below, or drop me a line on Twitter or via email.