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Aila Hoss, visiting professor at the IU McKinney School of Law, is part of a team of authors of a newly published article, “Association of State Laws with Influenza Vaccination of Hospital Personnel,” in American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The article summarizes a study that Professor Hoss worked on while at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016, in which a legal assessment in 50 states and Washington, D.C. examined approaches to influenza vaccine laws for healthcare personnel.

Eighteen states had one or more healthcare personnel influenza vaccination-related laws. The study concluded that state laws moderate the effect of facility-level vaccination mandates and may help increase healthcare personnel influenza vaccination coverage in facilities with or without vaccination requirements.

“This is an example of a legal epidemiology study, which analyzes the role of law on health outcomes. It can be used by policymakers as the evidence base for legislation or regulation to promote healthcare worker vaccination. It also demonstrates the invaluable role of attorneys in conducting scientific research alongside interdisciplinary teams of epidemiologists, statisticians, and other public health practitioners,” Professor Hoss explained.  

Her research explores topics in public health law, health policy development, and the impact of federal Indian law and Tribal law on health outcomes. Prior to joining the faculty at IU, Professor Hoss served as a staff attorney for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Law Program (PHLP), where she worked to improve public health through the development of legal tools and the provision of legal technical assistance to state, Tribal, local, and territorial governments. This included supporting the agency’s Ebola Emergency Operations Center and responding to legal research requests related to the Zika virus. At PHLP, she also served as the lead researcher for Tribal public health law projects, a portfolio she conceptualized and developed upon her arrival to the program.