Many D.C.-area nursing home workers are declining vaccines
Rachel Chason, Rebecca Tan, Jenna Portnoy and Erin Cox, The Washington Post
Jan. 27, 2021
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WASHINGTON - A large percentage of nursing home workers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia have declined to take the coronavirus vaccine, officials say, presenting a major challenge in the region s plans to protect its most vulnerable residents.
Nursing home workers were first offered the vaccine in late December and early January, along with residents of long-term care facilities and other health-care workers. Their wariness, providers and union representatives say, is fueled by online misinformation about the vaccine and historical mistrust of the medical system of which they are a part.
Carroll’s first supply of 103 doses was administered to first responders at the testing center in the final week of 2020. Prior to this past week, he said, Carroll received 1,100 doses and that on Wednesday they vaccinated 274 people in a morning clinic and 253 during an evening clinic. The health department also held morning and evening clinics for those qualified to receive the vaccine on Friday, with some 600 people registered.