Biden To Announce COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements For US Nursing Home Workers - White House

(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Biden to Announce COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements for US Nursing Home Workers - White House

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2021) US President Joe Biden is announcing new regulations to require all workers in nursing homes across the United States to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the White House said on Wednesday.

"Today, President Biden is announcing that HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] will develop new regulations requiring nursing homes to require that all of their workers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs," the statement said.

Some states have already taken similar steps to protect nursing home residents, and this action will ensure consistent and equitable standards across the country, the statement acknowledged.

"These new regulations would apply to over 15,000 nursing home facilities, which employ approximately 1.

3 million workers and serve approximately 1.6 million nursing home residents," the White House said

Data from US nursing homes showed a sharp decline in immunity from Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines due to the Delta variant and waning effectiveness over time, a report published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday.

Two doses of mRNA vaccines from the two companies were 74.7 percent effective among nursing home residents from March to May 2021 but in June and July their effectiveness fell to 53.1 percent, the report said. It suggested a third dose of vaccine might be considered for nursing home and long-term care residents.