With the country well into flu season, the majority of nursing home workers remain unvaccinated for the flu as well as Covid-19.
Fewer than one in every four health care workers received up-to-date Covid vaccines, and less than half have gotten the latest flu shot, according to 2023 data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.
That’s only 22.9% of health care workers that received Covid shots this year, and 47.1% for flu shots based on data collected on more than 2 million staff members across nearly 14,000 nursing homes.
CDC researchers pointed to vaccine fatigue when explaining the numbers while also reflecting on a general ongoing trend of less vaccinations since the end of the pandemic. Dr. Jeneita Bell, lead researcher for the CDC report, said there is a need to promote evidence-based strategies in order to improve vaccination coverage among nursing home staff.
Health care workers in hospitals had better flu vaccination rates than those in nursing homes at 81%, the report found, but up-to-date Covid was lower at 17.2%.
“CMS requires nursing homes to report weekly up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination status among [health care personnel] and publishes weekly results on a public-facing website,” Bell said in the report. “This might have resulted in higher coverage among [health care personnel] in nursing homes.”
Improved coverage might also be due to the partnership between the CDC and nursing homes to facilitate access to vaccination for both patients and staff members, Bell said.
In terms of location, SNF workers on the West Coast had better numbers, with 41% up-to-date on their Covid shots. Only 17.5% of nursing home workers in southern states were up-to-date with their Covid shots.
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