Nursing Homes Must Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines for Staff

After Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday, health and medical experts predicted this action will inspire more organizations and businesses to mandate vaccinations for their employees.

Many hospitals nationwide are already mandating vaccines for their employees. Now the nursing home industry is involved in an emergency regulation requiring vaccinations for all staff, including those in environmental services (EVS), The Associated Press reports. This regulation, which was announced last week by U.S. President Joe Biden, would withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding from nursing homes that are not complaint. The new mandate, being developed in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), could take effect as soon as next month.

“More than 130,000 residents in nursing homes have sadly, over the period of this virus, passed away. At the same time, vaccination rates among nursing home staff significantly trail the rest of the country,” said President Biden. “The studies show that highly vaccinated nursing home staffs are associated with at least 30% less COVID-19 cases among long-term care residents.”

Some nursing home administrators are worried this new mandate will worsen already existing staffing shortages among long-term care facilities, USA Today reports. Others welcome the mandate as long-term care centers care for a population especially vulnerable to COVID-19.

According to CMS data, 82.4% of nursing home residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to 60% of nursing home staff. As of August 8, 664,815 nursing home residents contracted COVID-19, of whom 133,631 died. Meanwhile, 597,087 nursing home employees got COVID-19, of whom 1,994 died.