Many D.C.-area nursing home workers are declining vaccines Rachel Chason, Rebecca Tan, Jenna Portnoy and Erin Cox, The Washington Post Jan. 27, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail WASHINGTON - A large percentage of nursing home workers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia have declined to take the coronavirus vaccine, officials say, presenting a major challenge in the region's plans to protect its most vulnerable residents. Nursing home workers were first offered the vaccine in late December and early January, along with residents of long-term care facilities and other health-care workers. Their wariness, providers and union representatives say, is fueled by online misinformation about the vaccine and historical mistrust of the medical system of which they are a part.