She endorses the compensation of time and expenses to staff members. But, she noted: ‘There is good evidence from behavioral economics that offering money signals takes risks. These vaccines are really safe and effective, so we do not want to reinforce the fears of humans. ”
Although Covid-19 cases and deaths are declining in long-term facilities, even those with high vaccination rates will have to guard. New residents are constantly arriving and employees are leaving; a turnover among nursing staff in nursing homes is extremely high, an annual average of 128 percent, a new study has found. This means that all the original nursing staff are gone after a year, and so are 28 percent of their replacements.
Probably the most difficult problem is vaccinating the majority of director care workers in the country, the approximately 2.3 million people working in private homes.
“It’s going pretty bad,” said Vicki Hoak, executive director of the Home Care Association of America, which represents 3,200 home care agencies. Although home care workers prefer vaccinations in every state, they struggle to get them, she said.
Like the rest of the immediate care workforce, home caregivers are primarily women of color, many of whom are immigrants. According to research and advocacy group PHI, in 2019 they will average $ 12.12 per hour. Nearly half rely on some form of public assistance, such as Medicaid or food programs.
Without a central workplace, they will be more difficult to reach, educate and vaccinate as caregivers in nursing homes and help centers. (Some, privately rented by individuals and families through the so-called gray market, do not work for agencies at all.)
“Vaccination hesitation is an absolute factor, but even more so the lack of easily accessible opportunities to be vaccinated,” said April Verrett, president of SEIU Local 2015.