Report: 86% of nursing home, adult care facility workers are vaccinated

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — We are getting a better idea about how many nursing home and adult care facility workers in New York are vaccinated.

Roughly 86% of home health care workers in the state have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to a new report from the New York Times. This comes less than a week after Gov. Kathy Hochul expanded her vaccine mandate, which required workers to have the one dose by last Monday, or face losing their jobs.

Even with the new figure released in the report, the state’s survey of agencies providing home health care also showed that at least 34,000 workers appeared to have missed the deadline. Though the loss of workers was not as steep as feared, some industry leaders warned that losing even 5 percent or 10 percent of aides in a field already suffering from a labor shortage could lead to challenges.

As News10NBC reported Thursday, at least 24 local nursing homes have stopped accepting new residents due to staffing shortages which means those folks continue to take up hospital beds they truly don’t need while awaiting discharge. We took an In-Depth look at how shortages have impacted located hospitals, too.

Some healthcare workers have fought for, and received a religious exemption from the vaccine, though it’s currently only a temporary move. A federal judge hearing the exemption case said he would make his ruling by Tuesday.

Let’s take a closer look at the numbers here in the Finger Lakes Region

• 94% in Monroe county
• 96% Ontario county.
• Seneca County has the worst vaccination rate among staff, with just 89%