Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Biden administration will require that nursing home staff be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Biden will announce the move Wednesday afternoon in a White House address as the administration continues to look for ways to use mandates to encourage vaccine holdouts to get shots. A senior administration official confirmed the announcement on condition of anonymity to preview the news before Biden’s remarks.
The new mandate, in the form of a forthcoming regulation to be issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, could take effect as soon as next month.
Hundreds of thousands of nursing home workers are not vaccinated, according to federal data, despite those facilities bearing the brunt of the early COVID-19 outbreak and their workers being among the first in the country to be eligible for shots.
It comes as the Biden administration seeks to raise the costs for those who have yet to get vaccinated, after months of incentives and giveaways proved to be insufficient to drive tens of millions of Americans to roll up their sleeves.
In just the past three weeks, Biden has forced millions of federal workers to attest to their vaccination status or face onerous new requirements, with even stricter requirements for federal workers in frontline health roles, and his administration has moved toward mandating vaccines for the military as soon as next month.
Biden has also celebrated businesses that have mandated vaccines for their own workforces and encouraged others to follow, and highlighted local vaccine mandates as a condition for daily activities, like indoor dining.
The new effort seems to be paying off, as the nation’s rate of new vaccinations has nearly doubled over the past month. More than 200 million Americans have now received at least one dose of the vaccines, according to the White House, but about 80 million Americans are eligible but haven’t yet been vaccinated.
Last year CMS used similar regulatory authority to prohibit most visitors from nursing homes in an effort to protect residents.
Biden’s upcoming announcement was first reported by CNN.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
How about a tax rebate for those vaccinated?
It’s a great idea but that number would have to pretty large for people to bite.
Tax rebate? Where do you think that money comes from? I pay $100 and get $100 back? How about people use common sense and protect the people they are trying to care for.
I meant a tax rebate for everyone who gets vaccinated, but didn’t say that clearly.
As far as the money, the same hole out back where they get the money for tax cuts or infrastructure or … that’s how it works, right? (heavy sarcasm)
Not trying to cause anyone’s undies to get in a bunch. But Hypothetically, the vaccine is working, all residence have had a opportunity to be vaxed. So if a worker or resident is not vaccinated the only one at risk is that worker or the resident. Right?
I am sure there is an argument against this, but I would think by now after almost two years any one, with a lick of sense, would come to the understanding no one is going to change any ones mind about the vaccine. ” you are going to kill grandma” “it hasn’t been approved by FDA” Whatever. Shut up and get it or don’t.
One could agree, but the greater protection for the residence the better. You can still get Covid when vaccinated. An older person may not be able to handle Covid, even when vaccinated. Alternatively, you don’t want that care giver taking it with them and spreading outside the facility.