CDC Issues Health Advisory For Health Care Practitioners Vaccination Coverage

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: On Tuesday, July 27, 2021, the CDC issued a Health Advisory to notify public health practitioners and clinicians about the urgent need to increase COVID-19 vaccination coverage across the country to prevent surges in new infections that could increase COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality, overwhelm healthcare capacity, and widen existing COVID-19-related health disparities. Key excerpts include:

COVID-19 vaccination coverage at skilled nursing facilities (SNF) helps prevent infection:

• Nursing home residents have been severely impacted by COVID-19 and are disproportionately represented in overall burden of COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality in the United States.
• While there has been significant progress in vaccinating SNF residents, vaccination coverage of staff at many facilities remains low.
• Preliminary data from CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) indicate residents of SNFs in which vaccination coverage of staff is 75% or lower experience higher crude rates of preventable COVID infection

Recommendations for Healthcare Facilities and Systems, Nursing Homes, and Businesses:

• Recommend and offer COVID-19 vaccine to your staff and employees and establish policies to encourage uptake such as time off to receive the vaccine.
• Consider offering COVID-19 vaccine at your workplace (Workplace COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit).
• Evaluate whether your facility can implement vaccine requirements or vaccine incentives.

You can read the full CDC Health Advisory here.