Surely if staff are having to travel abroad as part of their work then
travel vaccinations would become part of their occupational health and would
be necessary to provide them with a safe working environment and meet the
employers duty of care.  Similarly, if students have to travel as part of
their course and the medical centre is providing them with medical services
for the duration of their course then it could be argued that there was a
requirement to vaccinate them also.  Of course as students are now
increasingly having to pay for their tuition you could also probably argue
that they should pay for their travel vaccs as well.

When I worked for DERA, albeit as a contractor, we did provide necessary
travel packs for those travelling abroad which included emergency medical
kits - insect repellent, syringes and the like, if required.

Regards,

Jeremy R F Smith
RGN AIIRSM BSc Hons (OHN)
Occupational Health Advisor - Dover Harbour Board


-----Original Message-----
From: Kate Venables
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 14 June 2001 17:20
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: "business" travel


Dear List - the policy in the Oxford University OHS is to provide - and fund
from central "corporate" funds - the immunisations and anti-malarials
necessary for strictly "business" travel for staff eg fieldwork abroad,
visits to out-stations abroad, travel to collaborators or conferences.  We
do not provide or fund these health protection measures for recreational
travel or for spouses, partners, or children.  And we do not provide other
medical services - people have to go to their GPs for prescriptions for
regular medication.  We do not extend this service to students except
medical student electives.

Increasingly, however, we get enquiries from students - or teaching staff in
charge of students - who believe they meet these guidelines - eg groups of
undergraduates going abroad for part of their course (eg language students
or geography students) or students travelling abroad in vacations for
broadly educational purposes.  Logically, they have a point.  If a
university funds and/or provides immunisation against, say, hep B in lab
work should it not provide a similar service for infection hazards abroad -
and should it not provide a comparable service to staff and students?

And an alternative view.  What do people think about the logic of an
employer funding immunisations for travel at all?  There is a duty of care
if an employer expects its staff to travel abroad on business.  But
employers don't fund other expenditure such as stout boots, or bednets, or
sunglasses, or sun-screens, or tropical clothing, or water purification
tablets.  So is it logical to fund immunisations?

Comments and experiences greatly appreciated - Kate


Dr Katherine M Venables MD FRCP FFOM MFPHM
University Lecturer in Occupational Medicine
Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oxford
Old Road, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK
Telephone (direct) (+)1865 227034, (secretary) (+)1865 282677


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