As cases escalated earlier this year, several medical companies came out in favor of strict mandates for healthcare workers, arguing that these workers have a special obligation to ensure the safety of their patients and colleagues. And many large multi-state hospital systems and large nursing home companies have started requiring staff immunizations, though others have lobbied against the general requirements.
Many nursing homes had large numbers of workers who weren’t vaccinated even after Mr Biden announced the plan to force the vaccinations. The administration said about 40 percent of all hospitals already required vaccinations. About 73 percent of nursing home workers are now vaccinated, according to federal data.
In the retrial, all 10 states – Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming – claim the federal government has gone beyond its authority to dictate what happens in their states. “This case illustrates why the power of the police over compulsory vaccination has always been the province – and still belongs strictly to the states”, they argue in the lawsuit.
Despite pressure from some nursing homes and hospitals to weaken the requirement, the administration chose to insist on vaccination. âIt is essential for us to ensure that we ensure the safety of residents living in nursing homes and others in health care facilities,â said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of CMS, in an interview. Vaccinated staff are less likely to get sick and spread Covid, she said.
Ms Brooks-LaSure acknowledged supplier concerns about the loss of workers who refuse to be vaccinated, but said warrants often alleviate shortages because employees are not infected. “What we are seeing on the ground is that they are not going to work because they are sick,” she said.
She also cited the experience of states that have issued requirements as evidence that vaccination rates will increase as a result of the government’s decision. Many large systems have made the vaccine mandatory, but only found a small minority of employees refusing to be vaccinated.
While some nursing homes and hospitals have expressed disappointment with the new rules, many are hardly expected to lose their government funding. Medicare has the power to cut funding to non-compliant providers, but Ms. Brooks-LaSure stressed that the agency’s approach will be to work with facilities. âOur goal is really to educate suppliers and get people to comply,â she said.