We have understood since the early days of the pandemic that older Americans with comorbidities were particularly at risk of dying from COVID. Therefore, it should have been clear that the virus would play havoc in places where that group was congregated – nursing homes and other senior care facilities.
The official numbers show that about a third of all COVID fatalities have occurred in nursing homes and other long-term senior care facilities. That percentage is likely significantly understated because many states, including Texas, do not track the outcome for residents who leave the facility after contracting COVID. My guess is that we will ultimately conclude that at least half of COVID fatalities came from infections that originated in a senior care facility.
Given this toll, it is obvious that everything should be done to reduce senior care residents’ exposure to COVID. The most obvious way to do that is require everyone working in one of these facilities to be vaccinated. Yet currently, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) estimates that only 60% of senior care employees have been vaccinated.
The industry has been diligently working to get employees vaccinated, but most care organizations have concluded that because of labor storages, they cannot mandate the vaccine on their own. Since every facility is struggling to get staff, they are concerned that if they require the vaccine employees will quit and move across the street to a facility that does not require the vaccine.
The industry faced a similar dilemma with the flu vaccine. Flu, while not nearly as deadly for seniors as COVID, is still very dangerous. The solution was that the federal government issued a regulation that required all senior care facility employees to be vaccinated. As a result, all senior care facility employees are required to get the flu shot each year.
The industry has been lobbying the federal government to also require the COVID vaccine. But the federal government has inexplicably declined to require the COVID vaccine. Of course, all senior care facilities are highly regulated by the state, which could also require all employees to be vaccinated. But pleas by the industry at both the federal and state level have largely fallen on deaf ears. A few other states have recently begun to require vaccinations for employees. Of course, as you might expect, Texas is not one of the states that has required the vaccine for senior care facilities. This is particularly concerning because vaccination rates for both senior care facility residents and employees in Texas are among the lowest in the country.
We are now seeing a surge in new cases and fatalities in senior facilities. This wave could have been largely avoided had either the federal government or the state acted to require the vaccine. While it is pretty late in the game at this point, one or both should immediately mandate the vaccine for employees. Frankly, I would even go further and mandate it for any vendor, contractor, volunteer or visitor entering a senior care facility.
We have known almost from the beginning of the pandemic that our seniors living in congregate settings were at a much, much higher risk of dying from COVID than the general population. Making sure that people were not bringing COVID into these facilities was beyond obvious and the most effective way to do that is to require every person walking through the door to be vaccinated. The fact that neither the federal government nor the state has done so is a shocking display of political cowardice and a complete abdication of our obligation to protect seniors.
I don’t see the point in forcing low paid workers to get vaccinated. Many of them can’t find the time to get the vaccination, plus, I’ve heard of people being down for 2 or 3 days after getting vaccinated, and the workers can’t afford to be off for 2 days. Most people who get Covid are sick for as long as the vaccines have made some people sick.
Further, if the vaccines did work, the residents of care homes would be vaccinated and would be protected from workers. But the vaccines don’t work–not the way that they had promised–with the 95% effective rate. Now, they are acting like they always said that the vaccines do NOT prevent infection, but rather, they ameliorate the symptoms. The CDC seemed quite surprised that the vaccinated cases in Cape Cod had a viral load in their nasal passages which was just the same as the unvaccinated. By getting vaccinated, you are not necessarily protecting anyone. Clearly, the so called experts are still trying to figure this out.
Which leads me to another point, and the reason why, I believe that the federal government can’t mandate vaccination for workers at this time. The vaccines currently available are not approved, they have emergency use authorization. They are still provided under an IND application (investigational new drug). I emailed the FDA to ask if the coercion from employers, school districts, local governments, was not a violation of the Belmont Report (Common Rule) that states that any human research subject must give informed consent. I asked if “investigational” is not the same as experimental, and, the coercion of individuals to receive an experimental product is a violation of the Common rule. Interestingly enough, I got an avoidant response from the FDA “we don’t regulate school policies and employee/employer relations, blah blah blah,” and I continued with my question, and got another avoidant response, and yet again, I tried, with the suggestion that I contact the manufacturers. Clearly, the FDA is not answering, and I would assume that coerced vaccinations are unethical.
Finally, the Nova Vax vaccine should be available shortly. It appears to be more efficacious and is based on a protein that is stable as the virus mutates, plus it has less side effects and risk. It makes more sense at this point to wait for that vaccine to be available.
Every senior care facility I am aware gives their employees time off to get the vaccine and to deal with any side effects, which are rarely 2-3 days. The reason that just vaccinating the resident is not sufficient is because all vaccines, this one included, lose some of their efficacy with the recipient’s age. Also, some of nursing home residents have severely compromised immune systems from other conditions and some cannot take it at all.
So you are advocating forced vaccination for everyone who walks through the doors of a nursing home, to include patients, staff, and visitors? Against the will of those patients, staff, and visitors who did not wish vaccination? With the proven high number of adverse reactions to the vaccines, even death, plus their now obvious lack of efficacy – how could such action be right? No.
Absolutely. The fatality rate in Texas nursing homes for COVID has been almost 20%. Over 95% of residents have opted to take the vaccine, but it is not as effective for older people. And while the vaccines are not perfect, they clearly reduce the incidence and severity and transmissibility of the disease. It is completely irresponsible for anyone to go into a setting where there is 20% chance someone will die if they are exposes without doing everything possible to prevent that from happening. If someone does not want to get the vaccine, fine. But don’t go hang out where you have a 20% of chance of killing someone.