As nursing home staff vaccine rates remain low, advocates push for federal mandate

Nursing home advocates are urging the Biden administration to implement a national vaccine mandate for employees of long-term care facilities.

With the vaccination rate for staffers in New York state's long-term care facilities jumping from 70% to 92% following a state mandate last week, nursing home advocates are urging the Biden administration to launch a similar mandate for long-term care facilities nationwide -- but the federal agency that oversees nursing home standards has yet to provide guidance on the matter.

Biden administration officials announced in August that long-term care staffers would soon have to get vaccinated, but the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has yet to implement the policy. In the meantime, the vaccination rate among long-term care employees nationwide is languishing at just over 65%.

"The federal mandate was welcomed, but the lack of guidance is concerning," said Michael Wasserman, the past president of the California Association for Long Term Care Medicine and a member of California's Vaccine Advisory Committee. "Having unvaccinated staff caring for residents will result in the transmission of the virus and therefore deaths."

"We cannot implement this soon enough," Wasserman said. "Every day that goes by without guidance will inevitably lead to more deaths."