ATLANTA — Ahead of the impending COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers across the country, many elderly care facilities lag behind the national average for employee vaccination rates.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the mandate in August, with plans to strip noncompliant facilities of Medicaid and Medicare funding.

“Keeping our nursing home residents safe is our top priority,” CMS administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a press release. “The data are clear that higher staff levels of staff vaccinations are linked to fewer outbreaks among residents, many of whom are at risk of infections, hospitalization or death.”

Nationwide, 64.4% of nursing homes staff has already been vaccinated, according to a CMS report published through Sept. 12. However, more than half of nursing homes staff in many states fall below the national average of employee vaccination rate.

As CMS is expected to release a final rule and deadline in October, uncertainty remains in many agencies as some anticipate a larger staffing shortage due to the required vaccine.

An estimated 220 of Georgia’s nearly 360 nursing homes have less that 64.4% of its staff full vaccinated.

Pruitt Health, which owns about more than 50 nursing and retirement homes in Georgia, on Aug. 9 announced that it was mandating the vaccine for staff at all its facilities.

The company’s Holly Hill location in Valdosta was at a 49.4% staff vaccination rate and 74.5% resident vaccination rate for the week ending Sept. 12.

Director Terri Henley said the facility has been hosting vaccination clinics and now administers the vaccine onsite in hope that the group will meet the company’s deadline Friday.

“We do have a couple employees that have filed some exemptions and two of them have been approved for exemptions,” Henley said.

Lisa Hodapp, director of the company’s Sunrise location in Moultrie, supports the vaccine mandate as a critical piece in preventing potential COVID related staffing shortages.

“We had staffing issues when COVID hit us the end of December because we had so many staff that contracted it,” Hodapp said.

The Moultrie location has a 44% staff vaccination rate and 88.2% resident vaccination rate. However, Hodapp estimates that about 90% of her facility has been vaccinated since the Sept. 12 report.

When asked if she forsees any staffing challenges related to the mandate, Hodapp responded that there may be potential staffing issues non-nursing departments. The facility has about 50 employees and at least two have filed exemptions, she said.

Alabama

An estimated 150 of more than 220 nursing home facilities fall below the current national staff vaccination rate.

Health Care Inc. in St. Clair County has one of lowest staff vaccination rates in the state at about 24.4%. More than 73% of its residents at the 53-bed facility are reported as vaccinated.

Since the last reporting period, facility administrator Kelly Allred said more employees have gotten vaccinated, but there is still resistance among the nearly 40-50 employees.

“A couple months ago there was some small talk of individuals suggesting that if they’re forced to get the vaccine, they’re going to change careers,” Allred said. “I think the understanding that there will not be unemployment (benefits), and you can’t job hop. We do see a lot of floatation within our county and surrounding area. But when you understand that it doesn’t matter if you don’t like the healthcare ruling, it’s going to be that way all over the state and you’re going to have to change careers as a whole.”

Contrastly, Hanceville Nursing and Rehab in Cullman County is ahead of the curve with its nearly 100% staff vaccination rate — approximately 97.1% of its estimated 245 employees.

Kristen Munger, assistant director of nursing, said it implemented the mandatory staff COVID vaccination policy in December 2020.

“We did have six employees who decided that they didn’t want to get it and they turned in their resignation,” Munger said.

Munger said the facility’s administrator felt the mandate was appropriate, especially after having much of its staff out of work last year due to COVID or exposure to COVID. Since the implementation of the company’s mandate, the facility has been more than 250 days without any positive COVID cases, according to Munger.

“I’m sure some people have chosen not to work here because of that but it’s still the right thing to do for our residents and community and that’s as evidenced how many days we’ve gone without COVID,” she said.

Mississippi

Nearly 120 of more than 200 of Mississippi’s Medicare and Medicaid funded nursing homes fall below the 64.4% national average.

Queen City Nursing Center is one that has struggled to boost its staff vaccination rate, which is currently at 42.1% of its nearly 100 employees.

“I’m really scared that I’m going to lose staff to not wanting to take this vaccination,” said Maquan Johnson, the facility’s infection control nurse scheduler. “From nursing down to kitchen personnel who are saying they will not take this vaccination and will leave the facility. Individuals have in their minds already whether they’re going to get the vaccination.”

The mandate comes as the facility is already looking to fill more than 20 vacant nursing-type vacancies, a trend among many healthcare facilities in the country.

“Right now we’re planning to use a lot of (staffing) agencies,” Johnson said. “I’m just hoping that the agency can keep us afloat, otherwise us individuals in the offices will have to step out onto the floor and take care of these residents because that’s our number one priority, to be there for our residents.

“This is the worst I’ve seen it,” Johnson continued. “We’ve always kept a full staff and I know it’s due to COVID. And even if we didn’t have a full staff and someone quit, we had plenty of applications to choose from and we don’t even have that many applications coming through now.”