According to the analysis from KFF, the percentages vary widely across states and even across different facilities. Uptake of the latest shot among residents ranged from 20 percent in Arizona to 63 percent in Vermont and North Dakota.
Nonprofit nursing homes tended to have more residents and staff vaccinated than for-profit facilities, though the report noted rates of vaccine uptake for staff were low in all types of facilities. The staff uptake ranged from 5 percent in Arkansas to 51 percent in Washington D.C. In 42 states, fewer than 20 percent of staff have received the most recent vaccine.
The analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data noted that in comparison, 50 percent of residents and 22 percent of staff had received the updated vaccine at the same point last year.
“We know that there are significant, systemic challenges with vaccine reluctance. Overcoming them requires a collective endeavor by public health officials, other health care providers, and the public. This is truly a community endeavor,” said Katie Smith Sloan, president of industry group LeadingAge.
In the initial vaccine rollout in late 2020, the federal government and private pharmacies worked together to prioritize nursing homes, bringing the shots into facilities and setting up vaccination clinics.
But since the federal government stopped buying and distributing the vaccine, that responsibility shifted to the private sector.
That’s meant nursing homes have needed to find the COVID shots on their own.
According to KFF, federal vaccine clinics contributed to high initial vaccination rates among nursing facility residents, but without ongoing federal initiatives, that uptake may remain low and vary across facilities.
It’s been more than a month since Biden administration officials met with long-term care leaders to express concern about low uptake and discuss ways to improve the numbers. Nursing home residents are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, but vaccination numbers have only improved incrementally since then.
The KFF analysis only analyzed data as of Jan. 14, but the most recent CDC data show that as of Feb. 4, just 40 percent of residents and 7 percent of staff were “up to date,” though the low staff number was likely due to a change in data collection.
