Flu shots don't need gloves, experts argue — SkimNews
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- OSHA does not recommend wearing gloves for vaccine administration unless the administrator has open lesions on their hands or is likely to contact a patient's bodily fluids.
- US healthcare industry accounts for 8.5% of national greenhouse gas emissions and 9% of air pollutants, per the authors, with day-to-day clinical practices shaping that footprint.
- If all 18 million US healthcare workers receive flu vaccines using the standard gloved process, the practice generates 36 million gloves, 108 metric tons of garbage, and 468 to 1,220 metric tons of greenhouse gases annually.
- One pair of incinerated non-sterile gloves releases 26 to 68 grams of CO2 equivalents, and glove prices have climbed to $29 per 1,000 amid precursor material shortages.
- The UK's Gloves Off! Campaign has demonstrated that cutting unnecessary glove use across healthcare activities is feasible without compromising patient safety, per the authors.
- Authors Cassandra Thiel and Preeti Jaggi call on health system administrators and chief sustainability officers to require "no gloves are required unless clinically indicated" in third-party vaccination contracts.
Why it matters: Health systems currently spending on gloves at $29 per 1,000 amid supply shortages could cut costs and eliminate 468 to 1,220 metric tons of annual emissions by dropping a step OSHA never required for flu shots—a fix the UK's Gloves Off! Campaign has already proven safe and that hinges on one contract clause.
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