NORFOLK, Va. — The Biden Administration announced Wednesday it will require long-term care facilities staff be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding.
For leaders with the Virginia Health Care Association, they say there are more pieces to the puzzle.
The association said the pandemic put a big burden on long-term care facilities. Now with the latest push from President Biden, the association's communication's vice president, Amy Hewett, said it's now another responsibility put on the centers.
"While we're grateful for the support from the Biden administration in doing that, we also think there's a need for other healthcare providers to get vaccinated as well," said Hewett. "We don't think our nursing facility staff should be singled out for vaccination."
Last time 13News Now spoke with the Virginia Health Care Association, leaders spoke about the voluntary survey conducted by the Virginia Department of Health.
It stated about 35% of long-term care workers said they would not get the vaccine. Hewett said new state data shows about 83% of residents are vaccinated and approximately 69% of nursing home facility staff members are vaccinated.
However, Hewett said she worries the vaccine mandate may also deter people from wanting to work in these facilities or apply for these jobs.
"There's certainly the concern among our members that caregivers may leave and go work in a different setting, go work for a hospital for a private practice," Hewett explained. "We're already facing a workforce shortage, so that can be really devastating to have."
Hewett said the association encourages workers at long-term care facilities to get vaccinated, but she said it's a team effort with the community to reach herd immunity.
She explained how COVID-19 cases come from both the community and the hospital systems, meaning it's not just these facilities getting the coronavirus.
"We know lots of healthcare organizations are putting vaccine requirements and mandates in place. We just hope we're not singled out as the only ones that the government says we have to do this," said Hewett.
She said most long-term care facilities are also only allowing vaccinated contractors to enter their buildings to prevent any spread of the virus.
Hewett said they are still waiting on guidance from the Biden Administration on what to do with this new mandate, which may not go into place until next month.