Worst-hit US nursing homes face vaccine fears

A resident (left) of the Domenico Sartor nursing home hugs her visiting daughter in Castelfranco Veneto, near Venice. Representation pic/AFP

After 1,10,000 deaths ravaged the nation's nursing homes and pushed them to the front of the vaccine line, they now face a vexing problem: sceptical residents and workers balking at getting the shots.

Being first has come with persistent fears that the places hit hardest in the pandemic - accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the nation's death toll - could be put at risk again by vaccines sped into development in months rather than years. Some who live and work in homes question if enough testing was done on the elderly, if enough is known of side effects and if the shots could do more harm than good.

"You go get that first and let me know how you feel," said Denise Schwartz, whose 84-year-old mother lives at an assisted living facility in East Northport, New York, and plans to decline the vaccine. "Obviously it would be horrible for her to get COVID, but is it totally safe for someone who's elderly and in fragile health?"

As the US vaccinated its health workers in select hospitals on Monday, public health officials said the answer is yes. The US FDA found the vaccine was safe and more than 90 per cent effective across recipients of different ages, including older adults and those with health problems that put them at high risk of COVID-19. But the undercurrent of doubt in nursing homes persists, sometimes fuelled by divisive politics, distrust of institutions and misinformation. And so far, the workers are the ones being heard the loudest.

"Folks are concerned about it, that it was rushed through by people who were not listening to the science," said Denise Allegretti, a director at 1999 SEIU, the nation's largest healthcare worker union. Christina Chiger, a 33-year-veteran nurse's aide at a nursing home in Tampa, Florida, asked, "Will there be side effects? Will it actually work?" she asked. "If we all get sick from taking this, who's going to take care of our patients?"

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