Friday, May 14, 2021 On May 11, 2021, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new rule that will require long-term care facilities and residential facilities serving clients with intellectual disabilities to educate and offer COVID-19 vaccines to residents, clients and staff. This new requirement will closely align with current requirements for influenza and pneumococcal vaccines in long-term care facilities. The new rule will also require long-term care facilities to report weekly COVID-19 vaccination status data for both residents and staff. Enforcement of the new rule is expected to begin June 14, 2021. This new rule continues CMS’ effort to ensure that long-term care facilities “[r] eceive support for COVID-19 vaccination efforts. CMS explained that long-term care facilities, “are now required to report weekly vaccination data of residents and staff to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), the nation’s most widely used health care-associated infection tracking system”