Article updated Oct. 4 and Sept. 30 respectively to remove San Joaquin and San Luis Obispo from the list of counties currently mandating flu and/or COVID-19 vaccination for health care workers. See the San Luis Obispo and San Joaquin public health orders.
Respiratory virus season in the U.S. typically begins in September and can spike as late as February or as early as November. Consistent with its advice ahead of most annual flu cycles, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that individuals ages 6 months and older receive the updated 2024-25 flu vaccine in September or October and that providers begin their flu vaccination efforts now.
Some cities and counties in California mandate that certain health care workers receive the flu vaccine. As of Sept. 30, local public health department orders that mandate flu vaccination and include dental practices are:
- Alameda County
- Berkeley (city)
- Madera County
Dentists in these cities and counties can read the details of their respective flu vaccination order in CDA’s resource Local Public Health Department Orders Related to COVID-19. CDA’s regulatory compliance experts regularly review the resource and keep it up to date; however, cities and counties revise their orders periodically, including in response to community outbreaks, and dentist employers should familiarize themselves with local ordinances that apply to them.
Additionally, although California ended its statewide COVID-19 vaccination mandate for health care workers in September 2022, cities and counties should continue to enforce local COVID vaccination orders. These are also listed in CDA’s resource. As of this article’s publication date, they include Los Angeles County and San Francisco but could change in response to local infection rates.
For employers in cities and counties that do not mandate vaccination for health care workers, encouraging employees to get vaccinated may be preferable to mandating vaccination, but both federal and state law generally permit private employers to mandate vaccination as long as they consider qualifying exemptions, as a California appeals court recently confirmed.
Dentists can educate patients on vaccine safety, effectiveness
Dentists have a daily opportunity to educate patients on the importance of protecting themselves, their family members and their community against respiratory viruses by getting vaccinated.
The CDA Foundation in 2021 developed vaccine promotion resources for dental teams under a grant received from the California Department of Public Health. Updated in August 2024, the resources include displayable flyers to support vaccination, talking points to help dental providers discuss vaccine hesitancy, safety and effectiveness with patients, social media posts and sample scripts offices can use to promote in-office vaccination.
Patients can also be directed to the California Department of Public Health’s “My Turn” website to book a vaccination appointment or find a walk-in clinic for a flu, COVID-19 or mpox vaccine.
The CDC explains that most people can get the COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the same time.
Dentists are authorized to administer in-office flu, COVID vaccines
California dental practices can consider implementing an in-office vaccination program. Under successful CDA-sponsored legislation that took effect in fall of 2021, California-licensed dentists can provide flu and COVID-19 vaccines to individuals ages 3 and older if the vaccines have been approved or authorized by the FDA.
Before dentists can administer the vaccines, they must first complete specific training.
CDA’s C.E.-eligible course “Dental Immunization Practice Management,” developed in partnership with the University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, provides the training dentists need to implement a vaccine administration program in their practice.
Dentists who wish to provide the COVID-19 vaccines must complete additional training via one CDC-hosted training course consisting of three training modules.
California law specifies that these trainings should count toward a dentist’s required C.E.