More Ohio nursing home residents, staff getting COVID-19 vaccines, DeWine says

Pharmacies have visited roughly 85% of Ohio’s nursing homes, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday in a press conference, and the number of residents and staff who have been vaccinated has gone up.

Ohio nursing homes will get three visits by a pharmacy to distribute the vaccine to residents and staff. DeWine said in a Jan. 5 news conference that only 61% of Ohio nursing homes had been visited by a pharmacy to deliver the first round of the vaccine.

While approximately 80% of residents received the vaccine at that time, only 40% of the staff at those homes had been vaccinated.

“Pharmacy companies tell us that anecdotally, that those numbers, as they go back for the second time and give people the second opportunity to take the first vaccine, those numbers have gone up,” DeWine said Tuesday.

Yet the governor did not say how many total nursing home residents and staff have been vaccinated as of Tuesday. 

While 92% of residents at the state’s veterans nursing homes in both Sandusky and Georgetown have been vaccinated, DeWine said only 60% of the Sandusky staff and 42% of the Georgetown staff had received the vaccine.

DeWine said Ohio represents 9% of vaccinations at long-term care facilities in the nation, which he attributed to the state’s large number of facilities. According to the Ohio Health Care Association, Ohio has more than 2,100 nursing homes, assisted living and intermediate care facilities for those with intellectual disabilities. 

“These are good results, and we’re happy about that,” he said.

Each nursing home will get three visits. Pharmacies only began making these second trip Friday, according to a Jan. 5 press release from DeWine.

Pete Van Runkle, who leads the health care association, said the skepticism among long-term care workers about COVID-19 vaccines mirrors that of the general public. While people older than 65 who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 have been eager to get the vaccine, he said the younger population has varying reasons for not being as interested.

“It’s all the way from ‘I don’t want to be the first one, let’s see how it affects other people first before I get it,’ to conspiracy theory kind of stuff and everything in between,” Van Runkle said.

Van Runkle said one Ohio Health Care Association member facility told him staff expressed doubts about vaccinations after a few residents testing positive for COVID-19 a few days after getting their vaccines.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, none of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines use live versions of the coronavirus, and a COVID-19 vaccine cannot give someone the disease. However, it takes a few weeks for the body to build an immunity to the virus after receiving the vaccine, which means it is possible to contract COVID-19 shortly before or after a vaccination.

Van Runkle said some staff members decided to not get the vaccine because they thought it would give them COVID-19. The facility had to start a reeducation process to explain to staff that the vaccine was not the cause of the residents’ COVID-19.

“There is just a lot of misinformation out there,” he said. “It’s tough to overcome.”

To address some of the concerns about the vaccine, the Ohio Department of Aging hosted nine livestreamed roundtables last week with medical professionals for long-term care staff members across the state. Staff could submit questions to the panels, such as “Do I need to be vaccinated if I’ve already had COVID-19?” and “What’s being done to find out the long-term effects of the vaccine?”

Over 2,000 long-term care staff members attended last week’s round tables, said department spokeswoman Tessie Pollock. The response from attendees was largely positive, and some decided to get vaccinated after attending.

“We had people say, ‘Thank you for letting me ask my question, it actually changed my mind about getting the vaccine,’ ” Pollock said.

Pharmacies will make a final round of visits to nursing homes to deliver second doses to those who require one. At the Jan. 5 news conference, DeWine urged those who work in nursing homes to get the shot while pharmacies are still making visits.

“I’m not going to say it’s the last time to get it because it won’t be the last time, but it could be a while,” he said.

Van Runkle said those who have been vaccinated have largely had no ill-effects, which he believes will motivate some staff who were initially reluctant to get the vaccine.

“If you were a little bit anxious about it at the first clinic, you’re not left out,” he said. “You can still get your third shot at the third clinic and be fine.”

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