New York City had some of the lowest vaccination rates for both nursing home staff and workers from 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 received shots from Wednesday. The Northern region and the capital had the highest vaccination rates.
Overall, the data show that residents at long-term care institutions take the vaccines, while staff at competent nursing homes lag behind. Across the country, 72 percent of residents and 44 percent of workers have been vaccinated.
Nursing homes in New York were destroyed early in the pandemic by COVID-19. Nearly 13,000 residents have died, findings the state only released Thursday after the publication of a report from the attorney general’s office in which the state is accused of counting the dead.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that 18,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, originally planned for long-term care facilities, have been released for wider distribution.
‘I am not surprised; in the past we have also seen hesitation among staff regarding flu vaccines, ”said dr. Jasmine Travers, an assistant professor at Rory Meyers College of Nursing University in New York, said studies tend to see higher vaccination rates in hospitals and among nurses and doctors compared to lower-paid certified nursing assistants who provide the most practical care. do inside nursing rooms.
This pattern washed up in the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before candidates received emergency consent, a UCLA health system survey in November showed that nurses were four times more likely to resist COVID-19 vaccines compared to doctors.
It’s hard to say why this is happening. Some experts blame general misinformation, as surveys show that the hesitation rate for COVID-19 among health workers is at the same level as the lay people.
LaRay Brown, CEO of One Brooklyn Health, which has three hospitals in Brooklyn, was surprised by staff members who did not want to get the vaccine, but also pointed out: ‘Most of our staff are colored, and they have learned from historical ways in which the U.S. government has not fared so well by people of color, ‘referring to the Tuskegee study and overall systemic racism.
Others suggest that health professionals take their time to make a decision, while others mention potential blind spots in professional training. Travers said the cause should be identified as soon as possible.
“We really need to sit down and understand why nursing assistants refuse to take the vaccine,” Travers said, but “even more than that, it includes nursing assistants in decision-making.”
“We did a very poor job, including many essential workers at the nursing home at the table,” she said.
With additional reporting by Fred Mogul