Covid killed 170,000 in nursing homes. Most residents still haven’t gotten the latest shot.

Key Facts

“Americans look to you as the highest public health official in the land; it would speak volumes if, in addition to other actions, you appealed directly to residents and their family members,” Katie Smith Sloan, president of industry group LeadingAge, wrote in a Dec. 22 letter to Becerra.
Sloan gave Becerra a to-do list to help the homes: allow them to make small vaccine orders that fit slackening demand, enlist hospitals in the vaccination campaign, permit the industry to bill Medicare more for administering the shots, and come up with a message that works.
Though government and industry leaders agree that a number of other factors could also be at play, the result is clear: Only 38 percent of nursing home residents have gotten the most recent shot — a significant drop from the initial vaccination campaign.
And the administration can point to facilities, such as those in the Dakotas, that have vaccinated most of their residents.