A simple solution
The coronavirus has devastated Connecticut nursing homes. It’s time for staff and residents to step forward and get vaccinated.
Step forward. Get vaccinated. Help bring an end to this crisis. That is the message we are sending far and wide to nursing home staff and residents today. Since the global pandemic began in March, no community has had a deeper and more profound understanding of the devastation that COVID-19 can bring to the vulnerable populations in our state than Connecticut’s long-term care community.
This is why we are encouraging all staff and residents at nursing homes and long-term care communities to embrace the opportunity to be among the first vaccinated as soon as it is available to them, hopefully as early as this month.
Taking the COVID-19 vaccine at the earliest possible time is especially important given the recent spike in community prevalence of the virus in our state. While our state was able to control the community spread throughout the summer, these efforts unfortunately have not been successful in keeping it down during the fall and early winter, as positivity rates have once more risen.
Connecticut will continue to see breaches into congregate settings so long as the prevalence of the virus in our state is high. A vaccination strategy is the clearest path to moving past the pandemic.
Nursing homes residents and staff have been hit hard by the impact of COVID-19, which is why they have been designated as a top priority group for the vaccine and should begin receiving the first doses by the end of December.
Connecticut’s long-term care community simply must seize this opportunity to put the harmful virus into the history books as soon as possible through wide-scale acceptance of vaccination.
What do we get from high vaccination compliance? Protection. It will protect this hard-hit and vulnerable community and serve as an example to the rest of the population as vaccine availability unfolds throughout Connecticut in the new year.
Yes, vaccinating all long-term care residents and staff is a major undertaking, but it can and must be accomplished as soon as possible. We have confidence that reasonable concerns and hesitancy about the vaccine will be overcome as facts about its safety and effectiveness are communicated to the community.
Here are some of those facts. This vaccine has gone through testing and clinical trials to ensure it meets the highest safety standards, and it has been deemed highly effective at protecting those who receive it. Connecticut’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group’s Science Subcommittee has now independently reviewed all the available scientific and trial data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is recommending that the state’s COVID19 vaccine distribution plan start at the earliest opportunity.
Accepting the vaccine is the most important way we can fight the unfathomable harm that this virus will continue to cause in our community. The more residents and staff vaccinated, the greater protection our community will have. More vaccinations means fewer outbreaks. It means more lives saved. It really is that simple.
The vaccine is a beacon of light pointing to the other side of this epic public health emergency, but it is not an immediate panacea. Continued infection prevention vigilance is also needed. Appropriate visitation limitations will continue to be needed until community spread is lowered and outbreaks are a thing of the past.
But the real hope the vaccine offers is to sustain the fatigued long-term care community in the final stretch to the other side of the pandemic. No community knows better how debilitating this pandemic has been. That is why we make this simple request to everyone involved in senior care, employees and residents alike.
Step forward. Get vaccinated. Help bring an end to this crisis.