MICHIGAN — The Michigan state director of AARP is urging nursing homes to require all staff and residents to receive COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots.
“As the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads like wildfire across the country, AARP is calling on nursing homes to require COVID-19 booster shots for residents and staff,” says Director Paula Cunningham.
Cunningham says nearly 3,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported among the state’s nursing home staff along with more than 1,200 new residential cases in the span of two weeks this month.
“The COVID-19 virus has demonstrated repeatedly that it is very dynamic,” adds Cunningham. “The rapid spread of the Omicron variant over the past weeks poses a significant risk for residents and staff of nursing homes who have not been boosted. For their sake, we must act now and make the delivery of booster shots to nursing home residents and staff our highest priority.”
Only 44.3% of residents in nursing homes were fully vaccinated and boosted in mid-December, according to AARP.