The New York State Nursing Association is responding to Albany Medical Center's mandatory flu vaccination policy.

A number of staff members have been given until Tuesday to get their shot or risk termination.

The hospital says it is not alone in requiring all employees, students and volunteers, except those with medical exemptions, to get their flu shots. Hospitals across the country are working to boost immunization rates for health care workers.

Eric Smith of NYSNA says nurses who do not get vaccinated put on new masks in between patients and follow careful infection control procedures. Smith says the 3 percent of nurses who do not get the flu vaccine still care about their patients' health.