Lamont requires all CT nursing home workers to get vaccinated

Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday issued an executive order requiring Connecticut nursing home workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The order takes effect immediately and will require staff at all longterm care facilities to receive their first dose by Sept. 7. Facilities that don’t comply risk fines of up to $20,000 per day.

“Now that vaccines are widely available and scientifically proven to be safe and the most effective method for preventing hospitalization and death, it would be absolutely irresponsible for

anyone working in a long-term care facility to not receive this protection that could prevent widespread infection among those who are most vulnerable from dying of this communicable disease, some of whom for medical reasons cannot be vaccinated themselves,” Lamont said in a statement “I applaud the staff of our long-term care facilities for everything they do to protect our older populations.”

The order applies to staff at nursing homes, residential care homes, agencies that provide staff to long-term care facilites, intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities, managed residential communities and chronic disease hospitals.

The order, signed by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz as acting governor, only allows medical or religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate. It came one day after Lamont signed an executive order, allowing local municipal leaders to issue their own mask rules, and requiring weekly testing of unvaccinated staff at nursing homes.

The governor has resisted issuing renewed restrictions in response to the pandemic, even as cases and the number of people hospitalized for the disease have grown, driven by the highly infectious delta variant.

“I think we’ve learned going back 16 months that nursing homes can be an area of great risk, and there were a lot of fatalities,” Lamont said.

The move comes as several surrounding states have already issued similar mandates. Massachusetts will require all nursing home workers to be vaccinated by Oct. 10, unless they have medical or religious exemptions. Massachusetts officials said facilities will be fined $50 a day for each worker who is not vaccinated by the deadline. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has issued mandates requiring hospital and transit workers to be vaccinated by Labor Day.

And in New York City, proof of vaccination will be required for indoor dining, gyms and other events beginning later this month.

Connecticut’s nursing homes and other longterm care facilities were hit early during the pandemic, often accounting for a majority of the state’s deaths from the virus. The state’s data shows nearly 3,900 of the state’s nearly 8,300 COVID-related deaths involved residents of nursing homes.

Connecticut nursing homes were some of the first prioritized for vaccines when shots became available late last year, with staff and residents vaccinated through a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens. But state leaders said soon afterward that vaccinations were lagging among some nursing home staff.

Industry leaders appeared to support mandated vaccines.

“Connecticut nursing homes support the Governor’s staff vaccination mandate policy,” said Matthew Barrett, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities.

“When implemented on a wide scale, the staff vaccine mandate will provide maximum protection for all residents, staff and others in our communities from the known and substantial risks of COVID-19.” He said the order should apply beyond nursing homes to other health care providers as well.

The organization has called for long-term care facilities to issue their own vaccine mandates, but said doing so could exacerbate existing staffing issues in the industry.

“We renew our call for state and federal governments to enact solutions to help address these long-standing workforce challenges,” the organization said in a statement.

Genesis HealthCare, one of the largest nursing home operators in the state, said Monday it will require staff, vendors and outside care providers to start vaccination by Aug. 23.

“Despite vaccination rates above the national average, the growing spread of the delta variant makes clear that we need to increase our vaccination rates substantially to better protect our patients, residents and employees,” the company said in a statement. “While we would have greatly preferred a strictly voluntary process, our commitment to health and safety outweighs concerns about imposing a requirement.”

Lori Mayer, a spokeswoman for the company, said ahead of the announcement Genesis “would be very supportive” if the order required all nursing home staff to be vaccinated.

A spokesman for SEIU 1199 New England, the state’s largest union of health care workers, declined to comment ahead of the announcement, saying the details of the mandate were not yet known.

The union is “continuing to strongly encourage workers to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” union spokesperson Pedro Zayas said. “We have done a lot of outreach to our members and employers since December 2020 to educate and facilitate vaccination in this workforce.”