Health care vaccine mandate remains as some push for an end
A federal mandate for health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has been in place nationally for a year
LOWRY CITY, Mo. (AP) — At Truman Lake Manor in rural Missouri, every day begins the same way for every employee entering the nursing home's doors — with a swab up the nose, a swirl of testing solution and a brief wait to see whether a thin red line appears indicating a positive COVID-19 case.
Only the healthy are allowed in to care for virus-free residents.
Despite those precautions, a coronavirus outbreak swept through the facility late last year. An inspector subsequently cited it for violating the federal government's COVID-19 vaccination requirement for health care facilities.
Truman Lake Manor is one of about 750 nursing homes and 110 hospitals nationwide written up for violating federal staff vaccination rules during the past year, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Most were given a bureaucratic nudge to do better — though some nursing homes also received fines, especially when they had multiple other problems.
