(PA) Less than half of personal care, assisted living home staff are vaccinated
Just like nursing home staff in Pennsylvania, only about half of the staff in the state’s personal care and assisted living homes have been vaccinated against COVID-19, despite the thousands of residents and staff who have been infected and later died from the disease, according to state data released Thursday.
Though 83% of residents in the homes have been vaccinated, just 49% of the staff in the personal care and assisted living homes who responded to the state’s voluntary survey have been vaccinated so far. That’s slightly less than the 53% of staff in nursing homes who have been vaccinated, according to data the state released two weeks ago.
“It is baffling” why the staff rate is so low, said Nancy Zionts, chief program officer for the Pittsburgh-based Jewish Healthcare Foundation, which has been helping the state educate facilities and their staff about the need to vaccinate. “I’m always baffled by people who resist good science.”
Ms. Zionts said one of the main reasons staff do not want to get the vaccine is that, even though they may have seen many elderly residents get infected or even die in their facility, their own age drives their viewpoint. “The staff are younger and there’s that sense of invincibility,” she said, “that sense that they’re not vulnerable to something and that if they got it, it would be just a few days and they’d be fine.”
https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2021/04/29/Less-than-half-of-personal-care-assisted-living-home-staff-are-vaccinated/stories/202104290179