Mary Ann Herbst, a resident at the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Le Mars, Iowa, received her first COVID-19 vaccine shot on December 29, 2020. However, a recent study found that only 4 out of 10 nursing home residents in the U.S. have received at least one dose of the most recent COVID-19 vaccine, which was released last fall.
Nursing aide Mollee Loveland, who works at a nursing home outside of Pittsburgh, is concerned about the low vaccination rate among nursing home residents. She has witnessed patients and coworkers dying from COVID-19 and is worried about bringing the virus home to her infant daughter, Maya, who is too young to be vaccinated. Loveland is also concerned about a potential summer COVID-19 surge, which could be more dangerous due to the humid and hot weather.
The low vaccination rate is partly due to the fact that the federal government is no longer covering the cost of administering the shots, making the process more logistically complicated. Dr. Rajeev Kumar, a geriatrician and president of The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, noted that clinicians must now bill each patient’s insurance company separately for the vaccine.
Sanford Health, which operates more than two dozen nursing homes, has managed to vaccinate more than 70% of its residents since early October by leveraging its size to make the vaccine delivery process more efficient and by having a close working relationship with a South Dakota-based pharmacy chain, Lewis Drug. The most crucial factor in Sanford’s success was the close relationships between the nursing home patients and the doctors who are employed by the health system and provide on-site primary care.
Jodi Eyigor, the director of nursing home quality and policy for LeadingAge, which represents nonprofit nursing homes, noted that primary care providers, hospitalists, pharmacists, and other healthcare stakeholders need to step up and have conversations with their patients about the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine before they enter nursing homes.
Critics argue that nursing homes should be doing more to educate patients about the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine, and a 40% recent vaccination rate is inexcusable given the danger the virus poses to nursing home residents. Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, a watchdog group that monitors nursing homes, believes the low vaccination rate is a symptom of larger issues throughout the industry, including poor food quality, apathy towards residents’ concerns, high staff turnover, and substandard care. Mollot also noted that these problems have intensified since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing extensive stress throughout the industry.
Mollee Loveland, the nursing aide, also believes that the industry has fundamental problems when it comes to daily interactions between workers and residents. She said that managers at her job often ignore patients’ concerns, leading to a lack of trust between residents and staff. This lack of trust can make it difficult to convince residents to get vaccinated, even when it is in their best interest.
