July 9, 2024
It seems that no one is taking COVID-19 seriously anymore, said Mollee Loveland, a nursing home aide who lives outside of Pittsburgh.
Loveland has seen patients and coworkers at the nursing home die from the virus.
Now she has a new worry: bringing COVID home and unwittingly infecting her infant daughter, Maya, born in May.
Loveland is also troubled by the possibility that the nursing home could experience a summer COVID surge, just like last year.
Despite this risk, an April report found that just four out of 10 nursing home residents in the U.S. have received the most recent COVID vaccine, which was released last fall. The analysis drew on data from October 16, 2023 through February 11, 2024, and was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The CDC report also revealed that during January’s COVID peak, the rate of hospitalizations among nursing home residents was more than eight times higher when compared to all U.S. adults, age 70 and older.
Billing complexities and patient skepticism
The low vaccination rate is partly driven by the fact that the federal government is no longer picking up the tab for administering the shots, said Dr. Rajeev Kumar, a Chicago-based geriatrician.
While the vaccine remains free to patients, clinicians must now bill each person’s insurance company separately. That makes vaccinating an entire nursing home more logistically complicated, said Kumar.
Kumar is president of The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, which represents clinicians who work in nursing homes and similar settings, such as post-acute care, assisted living and hospice facilities.
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