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As of March 12, only 54.4% of the state’s more than 12,000 long-term care workers had received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to Molly Howell, head of the North Dakota immunization program.
Meanwhile, more than 90% of nursing home residents have received at least one injection – likely the catalyst for the sharp drop in COVID-19 infections at state facilities.
There are several reasons for the lack of widespread vaccination among workers, Howell said.
Many holdouts are concerned about the safety of vaccines or how quickly they have been developed, Howell said. These fears are unfounded, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which notes that the approved vaccines met “rigorous scientific standards for safety, efficacy and manufacturing quality.”
Given their constant exposure to vulnerable facilities, many employees have already contracted and beaten COVID-19, leading some to believe they don’t need the vaccine. Howell said those who survive the virus gain some degree of immunity to it, but scientists are not sure how long the immunity lasts and some cases of reinfection have occurred.
Howell said he heard long-term care officials say workers were frustrated at having to continue to wear protective gear and perform COVID-19 tests despite the low infection rate in facilities. Although several regulations have been relaxed in recent weeks, some employees believe that nothing would change in their workplace even if they received the vaccine.
The relative youth of nursing home workers means they likely reflect the general population of North Dakota more than any other group that has been prioritized when rolling out the vaccine in the state, Howell said.
The reluctance of many workers to get vaccinated could foreshadow the difficulties in getting young North Dakotans to join in on the vaccines as they become more widely available, she said. Older residents, such as those who live in nursing homes, are easier to convince as they are more likely to suffer from severe illness from COVID-19 and many of them remember the eradication vaccine-induced other communicable diseases such as polio.
Howell believes educating more workers about vaccines and dispelling misinformation will be the key to changing disbelieving minds. She said the state Department of Health and North Dakota State University have teamed up to distribute educational materials and meet with players in the long-term care industry.
Some individual facilities have taken a different approach by offering incentives to workers who get vaccinated. One facility has promised three additional days off for vaccinated employees, while another is handing out $ 100 gift certificates, said Shelly Peterson, president of the North Dakota Long-Term Care Association.
But perhaps the best driver of increased immunization among workers is time. In the past three weeks, about 6.5% of workers in nursing homes across the state have sought a vaccine.
Some of the early skeptics are starting to come forward because they recognize that the vaccine had no adverse effects on their colleagues, Howell and Peterson agreed.
“It’s just going to take time, encouragement and reassurance that we’re not seeing negative impacts from those who have received the vaccine, and in fact we are seeing positive results,” Peterson said.
North Dakota is a national leader in vaccine distribution, with nearly a quarter of residents having received at least one dose.
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