Nursing home experts and stakeholders are always in favor of having employees get annual flu shots. But this year, their appeals are going to be stronger than ever, with many already imploring operators to make flu vaccination mandatory because of potential compounding effects of the coronavirus.
“The last thing we need is to be dealing with both COVID-19 and influenza at the same time. Both of them are dangerous to nursing home residents,” Michael Wasserman, M.D. CMS, geriatrician and president of the California Association of Long-Term Care Medicine, told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News on Tuesday.
“I cannot begin to imagine the combination of the two,” he said. “We don’t want to see either COVID or influenza spreading in nursing homes.”
Industry experts have warned that this coming flu season will be unprecedented due to the coronavirus crisis multiplying worries. The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also warned in July that COVID-19 mitigation strategies, such as social distancing, face coverings and handwashing, will be critical to not only curbing the spread of the coronavirus, but also lessening the severity of the upcoming flu season.
A report by Bloomberg Law on Tuesday noted that large nursing home operators such as Genesis HealthCare, Avalon Health Care, Signature HealthCARE, and the nonprofit Good Samaritan Society, already require staff members to get flu shots.
Mixed mask message?
Typically, if nursing home staff members don’t get a flu shot, they’re asked to wear a mask at work, Wasserman explained. He said the concern with that this year is people might think there won’t be a need to get vaccinated if they’re already going to be wearing a mask.
“Wearing masks and good hand washing are only as good as the human beings who do that. Human beings make mistakes. You’re going to have staff who don’t wear their mask properly or don’t wash their hands properly,” he said.
“Everything we do to reduce the transmission and spread of both influenza and COVID is being done for the health, well-being and safety of the residents, and the staff as well,” he added.
Wasserman noted that facilities can require staff members to be vaccinated as a condition of employment in order to keep residents safe from the diseases. He also pointed out that there are new strategies in place, like symptom checking, that weren’t around previously that could help prevent residents from getting sick, as well.
“There’s a lot of things sort of aligning right now, but I think we need to make sure that we’re vaccinating the residents, and we’re vaccinating the staff,” Wasserman said. “Plain and simple.”
