By Thomas Lake
The Salem News
Staff
DANVERS – Growing fears of foodborne hepatitis A have led Italian restaurant chain VinnyT’s of Boston to give kitchen workers a vaccine generally reserved for those traveling to Third World countries.
A visiting nurse vaccinated 26 kitchen workers at VinnyT’s in the Liberty Tree Mall on Monday, restaurant manager John Tynan said. The chain is one of the first in the state to give its workers the vaccine, though others are considering the measure.
New hepatitis A infections nearly quintupled to 285 in the first five months of 2004, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Officials can’t fully explain the sharp rise.
“Just in the Boston area, (hepatitis A) is almost an epidemic right now,” Tynan said. “Going the extra mile for safety is worth it.”
The vaccine consists of two shots costing $70 to $100 each. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, the vaccination is not recommended for people unless they use street drugs, have male homosexual intercourse, or travel to high-risk countries such as those in Africa, Central or South America, Asia (except Japan), the Caribbean, Mexico and southern or eastern Europe.

Despite recent high-profile hepatitis A scares in towns like Marshfield and Ludlow, the DPH has not ordered restaurants to vaccinate their workers. Spokeswoman Donna Rheaume said foodservice workers don’t face greater risks of getting the disease – but they’re more likely to spread it through constant contact with the public.
“We don’t have a position on it,” Rheaume said of the restaurant vaccinations. “It’s up to them.”
Nevertheless, several restaurants may follow the lead of VinnyT’s. Massachusetts Restaurant Association CEO Peter Christie said restaurateurs want to keep customers safe and fear the bad publicity that follows when workers get sick.
That’s what happened at Not Your Average Joe’s in Arlington, and although no customers were infected, president Steve Silverstein had to fight to keep his chain’s reputation clean.
Silverstein, whose eight restaurants include one in North Beverly, offered a hypothetical situation to describe the problem: “A guy went fishing and slipped on the rocks and banged his head and died. So do you not go fishing anymore?”
The North Shore saw a small outbreak of hepatitis A last January, when two men and two boys got sick after a community dinner at the First Congregational Church in Boxford. State investigators traced the infections to a food handler who carried the virus but did not get sick.
The liver disease, which carries flu-like symptoms but rarely kills its victims, often spreads when infected people fail to wash their hands after using the toilet. That’s one reason failure to wash hands is one of the most serious infractions an employee at Not Your Average Joe’s can make.
It is grounds for instant termination.
At VinnyT’s, Tynan said the vaccinations were voluntary.
“But,” he said, “every single employee took advantage of it.”
Staff reporter Thomas Lake can be reached at (978) 338-2614 or by e-mail at tlake@ecnnews.com.