Biden ties federal healthcare payments to nursing home staff vaccine status

Reuters has reported that Pres. Joe Biden has announced his administration will require employees at nursing homes to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of the facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid government healthcare programs.

Biden cited a study showing that the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines for residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities has dropped since the delta variant became dominant in the United States. Residents of nursing homes have been hard hit during the pandemic, with many facilities experiencing high death tolls — particularly early in pandemic. Nursing homes were among the first to be given shots once COVID-19 vaccines became available.

However, some nursing homes have not required staff members to be vaccinated against COVID-19 — and some employees have opted not to get the shots amid vaccine skepticism among some Americans.

“I’m using the power of the federal government as a payer of healthcare costs to insure we reduce those risks to our most vulnerable seniors. These steps are all about keeping people safe and out of harm’s way,” Biden said.