Vaccine educational activities have been a key strategy used by providers in order to ensure widespread uptake among their staff members, according to the nation’s top nursing home groups.
The leader of the nation’s largest nursing home association is hopeful COVID-19 vaccinations of all U.S. nursing home residents will be complete by the March 1 target date it set for states last month.
Cash bonuses and vigorous education campaigns have been among the tools used by different types of long-term care operators to increase staff participation in getting the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new report by Forbes columnist Howard Gleckman.
The leader of a New Hampshire nursing home said it regrets not having its COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan reviewed by state health officials before providing doses to some of the facility’s volunteer board members.
Coronavirus vaccinations at long-term care facilities have risen by more than two-thirds since last week, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More seniors will be able to start getting their first COVID-19 vaccinations after top federal health officials ordered states to expand their priority groups for doses this week.
Vaccination efforts in long-term care facilities are expected to accelerate noticeably in the coming days and weeks, the nation’s top federal health official asserted Wednesday.
U.S. pharmacy retailers CVS Health and Walgreens both expect to be done with administering the first doses of coronavirus vaccines at long-term care facilities by the end of January.
The FDA announced its approval late Friday, and roughly six million doses of the COVID-19 drug began shipping from warehouses two days later, officials said.
Nursing home operators continue to worry about the timing and quantities of newly approved COVID-19 vaccines reaching them this week and next, but some of the fretting could be for nought. Less than 15% of respondents in a new McKnight’s Long-Term Care News survey say they will mandate that employees get vaccinated.
