WASHINGTON (AP) – A little more than a third of nursing home workers are receiving the COVID-19 vaccines when the vaccines are first offered, US health officials said on Monday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided national accounts of an anecdotally reported problem – many asylum workers are not getting vaccines.
The CDC analyzed more than 11,000 nursing homes and qualified health centers that had at least one vaccination clinic between mid-December and mid-January. The researchers found that while 78% of residents received at least one injection, only 37.5% of team members did so.
Previous data has shown that people who work in nursing homes and long-term care facilities receive flu vaccines at lower rates than other health professionals. Research suggests that long-term care workers are skeptical about the effect of vaccines and do not think that viruses spread easily from them to the people they care for.
The problem was discussed last week during a meeting of a panel of experts advising the CDC on vaccine policy. At the meeting, Dr. Amanda Cohn of the CDC said that more employees are vaccinated when a second or third clinic is held in a home.
“Continuing to capture employees who did not accept the vaccine early will be very important as we try to eliminate outbreaks and protect both employees and residents in long-term care facilities,” said Cohn.
The government has mandated CVS and Walgreens to administer vaccines in long-term care homes in almost every state. Each vaccine requires two injections a few weeks apart, and CVS and Walgreens say they involved first-rate nursing homes. The networks plan three visits to each location.
The CDC released a second report on Monday that offered a broader national view of who is receiving the vaccine.
The CDC study found that of people who received at least one injection between mid-December and mid-January, 63% were women and 55% were 50 or older. He also found that 60% were white, 11.5% Hispanic, 6% Asian, 5% black, 2% Native American / Alaskan Indians and most other multiracials.
The report echoed data previously released by the states.
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