Texas nursing homes are required to report staff vaccination numbers to the federal government. But just around 30% of the more than 1,200 facilities in the state have reported that at least 75% of their employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 – a threshold the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, says is a “realistic goal for providers to meet.” In addition to nursing homes, Texas has over 2,000 assisted living facilities, also included in this map. But neither the federal government nor the state keeps track of how many people work at each facility, so it is unknown what percentage of staff is vaccinated. That means overall that just 11% of all facilities – nursing and assisted living combined – are known to have vaccination rates of 75% or more.
Despite looming deadline, most staff vaccination rates didn’t change between August and September
Update: The Biden administration announced on Nov. 4 that all eligible staff at nursing homes and other health care facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4, 2022.
In August, the Biden administration announced it was developing a plan that will require staff working at all nursing homes accepting Medicare and Medicaid funding to be vaccinated. While the new rules are expected to go into effect by late October, they have not spurred unvaccinated nursing home staff in most Texas facilities to seek a vaccine. The federal vaccine mandate will not apply to staff at most assisted living facilities.
Also, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently issued an executive order barring COVID-19 vaccination mandates. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission told Texas Standard in an email that it is reviewing the executive order and “will also examine the CMS rules when finalized to identify any potential impacts.” The agency also reiterated that it currently does not require COVID vaccinations for nursing facility staff or residents.
Story and data visualization produced by Caroline Covington.
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