Will vaccine improve safety in close-quartered nursing homes?
Health leaders said it s crucial to vaccinate people living in long term care facilities, who are among the most at-risk of complications due to COVID-19.
and last updated 2020-12-16 20:33:12-05
When loved ones in long-term care facilities and nursing homes contract COVID-19, the policy is to help them ride it out in-house, instead of going to the hospital. Patients are only taken to the hospital if absolutely necessary. Has that policy put lives at risk, and if so will a vaccine help improve safety?
According to the Associated Press, more than 110,000 deaths from COVID-19 have happened in nursing homes across the country. With the United States hitting 305,000 deaths total on Wednesday, those patients make up more than one third of all COVID-19 deaths in the country.
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Even though employers can require workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine, few are expected to.
Like so much else about the coronavirus outbreak, getting workers vaccinated against the disease isn t a simple issue. It really is nuanced. It really does depend. You have to know your workforce. You have to know your clientele, said Bob Harris, a labor and employment attorney with the Columbus law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease.
Generally, employers can require their employers to get vaccines as a condition of employment as long as it is job related and considered a business necessity, legal experts say. The idea is to keep the workplace safe.
Although the initial stockpile of COVID vaccines will go a long way toward reaching the top-priority groups, there won t be enough to inoculate everyone on Day One, or even the first week.