Massive workforce in New York nursing homes still COVID-019 has not been vaccinated against – Jaw, with more than 60 percent of employees in some city facilities, refusing to receive state data show.
Vaccination rates among workers remain at the same facilities as very vulnerable residents, sparking the displeasure of advocates who warn that their ability to visit loved ones at home may be impeded.
Vivian Zayes, founder of Voice for Seniors, whose mother Ana Martinez died last year after contracting COVID-19 at a long nursing home, said, “If employees don’t want to get vaccinated, they need another job.” The line must be found. “
“If they want to work in nursing homes, they should get vaccinated.”
According to data from the state health department, there has been a review by The Post.
In New York City’s 167 nursing homes, just 57 percent of employees received their shots, compared to 78 percent of residents.
The borough with the most dismal vaccination rate among nursing home staff was Brooklyn, where only 47 percent were vaccinated, down from 71 percent of residents.
And in 20 city facilities, at least the number of employees – 60 percent or more – had yet to be vaccinated, the Post Review found.
- At the 280-bed Linden Center Nursing Home in Brooklyn, 25.5 percent of employees are vaccinated, compared to only 54.5 percent of residents. “Since vaccines first became available, we are actively encouraging all staff and residents to get vaccinated,” said Richard Brum, general counsel at the Lyndon Center.
- At the 305-bed Sea Crest Nursing and Rehab Center, only 29.2 percent of employees, and just 29.3 percent of residents, have received shots. The facility did not respond to a request for comment.
- Just 28 percent of the staff were vaccinated at the Woodikest Center in the 90-bed High Bridge Nursing Home, which specializes in caring for people with HIV / AIDS. It is only a third of 74 percent of the residents. The nursing home declined comment.
- Only 28.5 percent of workers at New Riverdale Rehab and Nursing Homes in The Bronx were vaccinated, less than half of the 65.2 percent resident / inpatient vaccinations. A representative answering the phone said, “We don’t talk to the media.”
- At Manhattan’s Harlem Center for Nursing and Rehab, 28 percent of employees were vaccinated, while 46.2 percent were residents. The facility had no immediate comment.
- At Peninsula Nursing Home in Rockaway, Queens, just 25.8 percent of employees were fully vaccinated, compared to 42.3 percent of residents. The peninsula declined a request for comment.
Advocates for nursing home residents said the low rate of vaccinations for employees is a serious problem.
Nursing homes may be closed in whole or in part for visitation if only one person at the facility tests positive for COVID-19 to prevent the spread of killer virus to vulnerable residents.
Richard Longot, executive director of NY Long Term Care Community Management, said more efforts needed to be made to encourage employees to get vaccinated.
“The issue is the reason for the lack of preparedness and education leading to the vaccine announcement,” Molot said, noting the state and federal government should have done a better job before the vaccine rollout when it educated educators and residents had come for. Regarding vaccine acceptance.
“We need to do meaningful enforcement in order, from state to facility and from CMS to state… If your staff members are vaccinated at a high rate, you may have some level of herd immunity at the facility. How will you arrive at that rate? This requires people to take the vaccine. “
Molot said many nursing homes come from minority communities, where there has been more resistance to vaccines, as people of color have a history of prior medical abuse.
“We have a system that has been broken for a long time and when COVID hit it, it was extended,” he said.
Low vaccination rates among nursing home staff have been a source of tension between state health department officials and facility operators.
Last month, the DOH issued new guidance requiring nursing homes to offer the vaccine to all residents and employees and those who decline it should sign an opt-out statement. Nursing homes that flout the rules can be fined $ 2,000 per penny.
DOH spokesman Jeffrey Hammond said, “Nursing homes have an obligation to vaccinate their residents and staff and we are seeing progress due to DOH’s continued intervention.”
A DOH spokesman said, “Their responsibility for vaccination is not over, nor is it our impact and spread to ensure the facilities. This is one of the best ways to protect residents and employees from the dreaded virus.”
The state’s controversial operation of the virus in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities has led to numerous investigations at the state and federal levels.
The Post specifically reported in February that Andrew Cuomo’s administration in Gove withheld data related to COVID-related deaths among nursing home residents from the US government’s Department of Justice, which they believed federal officials would consider when the information Had reached outside.
The Democratic-led state Legislative Assembly is also looking at how the administration dealt with nursing home death data during the key tenure of the impeachment inquiry of the Legislative Judiciary Committee, which was launched in March.
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