Coronavirus vaccines are high among nursing home residents in the U.S. but low among workers, a new report has found.
More than three-quarters of people living in long-term care facilities had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed Wednesday.
However, when it came to nurses, administrators and others who worked at centers that received the injection, just over a third of them had received it.
The findings confirm reported reports of nursing staff refusing vaccinations and feeling they are being treated like ‘guinea pigs.’
Researchers say more outreach efforts are needed to reassure this vulnerable population that the bullet is safe and effective.
A new CDC report found that nearly 78% of nursing home residents have received at least one dose of vaccine with at least 60% of older people vaccinated
In comparison, 37.5% of nursing home staff were vaccinated with most establishments covering less than 40% of their staff
Nursing home residents and staff are among those most at risk for coronavirus infection as a result of living and working in congested settings.
In addition, residents are also at higher risk due to their age and propensity to have underlying health conditions.
Because of this, the CDC Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices in December 2020 recommended that residents and workers should be included in the first phase of vaccination in the US
The federal government also signed a partnership with CVS and Walgreens to deploy pharmacists to vaccinate nursing home residents and workers.
For the analysis, published as part of the CDC’s Weekly Mortality and Mortality Report, the team used data from the National Healthcare Safety Network and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
11,460 skilled nursing facilities reported at least one vaccination clinic between December 18, 2020 and January 17, 2021.
Data showed that an average of 77.8 percent of residents received at least one dose of vaccine over the same month.
About half of the facilities – 48 per cent – had been vaccinated by at least 60 per cent of their residents.
In comparison, an average of 37.5 percent of employees per facility received at least one dose.
More than half of nursing homes had vaccinated less than 40 percent of staff 30 days into the program.
A total of 13 states vaccinated at least 80 percent of residents (dark blue) with most states vaccinating 60% to 79% (medium blue) one month into the program
Only one state (medium blue) vaccinated 60% to 79% of workers with most states vaccinating 40% to 59% (light blue) or less than 40% (white)
In addition, by mid-January, only 18.5 per cent of facilities had vaccinated all residents and only 4.8 per cent had vaccinated all staff.
Rates also varied by state, the report revealed.
Only 13 states – Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin – vaccinated at least 80 percent of residents.
In contrast, no state had done so for workers. Only one state, New Hampshire, vaccinated 60 percent of nursing home workers.
Vaccination rates have been reported to be low among nursing home staff for other infections such as influenza burn.
According to a survey conducted in October 2020, 37 percent of nurses said they were not confident that the COVID-19 vaccine would be safe and effective.
Some compelling reasons included beliefs that the vaccine was developed too quickly and that there was insufficient information available about vaccine safety.
‘You don’t know what the impact is and that’s scary,’ Maryland-based registered nurse Amelia Foster told ABC 10.
‘Nobody wants to be a guinea pig. All the drugs out there have risks and side effects. Not everyone is affected, but it can cause your immune system to go haywire and that ‘s scary. ‘
The team says public health experts need to spend more time briefing staff on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
‘The lowest percentage of workers who have been vaccinated raises concerns about low coverage among populations at high risk for occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2,’ wrote the the authors.
Continuous development and implementation of communication and outreach strategies are needed to improve vaccination coverage among staff [nursing homes] and other long-term care settings. ‘