New York City had some of the lowest vaccination rates for both nursing home staff and workers of any region in the state, according to new data released by the state this week. Sixty-five percent of residents and 40 percent of workers had received shots as of Wednesday. The North Country and Capital Regions had the highest vaccination rates.
Overall, the data show that residents at long-term care facilities are taking the vaccines in droves, while staff at skilled nursing facilities lag behind. Statewide, 72 percent of residents and 44 percent of workers had been vaccinated.
Nursing homes in New York were devastated by COVID-19 early in the pandemic. Nearly 13,000 residents died, findings only released by the state Thursday after the publication of a report from the Attorney General’s office accusing the state of undercounting the dead.
On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said 18,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, originally slated for long-term care facilities, had been freed up for broader distribution.
“I’m not surprised; we’ve seen hesitancy among staff when it comes to influenza vaccines in the past as well,” said Dr. Jasmine Travers, an assistant professor at New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing, who said studies tend to note higher vaccination rates in hospitals and among nurses and doctors compared to lower-paid certified nursing assistants who do most of the hands-on care inside nursing rooms.
This pattern has spilled into the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before any candidates had received emergency authorization, a UCLA Health System survey in November showed nurses were four times more likely to resist COVID-19 vaccines relative to doctors.
It’s hard to say why this is happening. Some experts blame general misinformation, as surveys show COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy rates among health care workers are on par with the lay public.
LaRay Brown, the CEO of One Brooklyn Health, which has three hospitals in Brooklyn, has been surprised by staffers not rushing to get the vaccine, but also pointed out, "Most of our staff are people of color, and they have learned about historic ways in which the U.S. government has not done so well by people of color," referring to the Tuskegee study and overall systemic racism.
Others suggest that health care workers are taking their time to make a decision, while others cite potential blind spots in professional education. Travers said the cause needs to be identified as soon as possible.
“We need to really sit down and understand why nursing assistants are refusing to take the vaccine,” Travers said, but “even more than that, it is including nursing assistants in the decision making.”
“We’ve done a very poor job including many essential workers in the nursing home setting at the table,” she said.
With additional reporting by Fred Mogul
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