Less than half of nursing home workers in at least 15 states are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In states such as Louisiana, Wyoming, and Alabama, fewer than 48% of nursing home staffers have been vaccinated. Several of these states have the lowest overall vaccination rates in the nation.
That data shows in Mississippi, where only 42% of nursing home workers have been vaccinated, the state has only vaccinated 30% of its population.
The low rates continue despite the fact nursing home workers were among the first people eligible to get a vaccine in the United States.
“It’s a concern on so many levels,” advocate Richard Mollot from the Long Term Community Coalition told the Washington Examiner. “It's a more dire situation for elderly people with underlying conditions.”
Overall, around 75% of U.S. seniors have full vaccine protection against COVID-19.
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"Most likely, if there is COVID coming into the facility and infecting our residents, it's coming from our staff," said nursing facility administrator Jill Foertsch in an interview with the Grand Forks Herald.
"We need to protect our residents. They're the most vulnerable, the weakest, get hit the hardest … that's why it's so critical that our direct caregivers and supplementary caregivers are vaccinated.”
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