Recently, a poll conducted by the National Poll on Healthy Aging (and reported by the U.S. News & World Report) found that most people that are looking for senior care, either for themselves or a loved one, want senior care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Many organizations have already mandated that this be the case. Federal institutions, such as the VA, already mandate that senior care workers are vaccinated. Others are still attempting to figure out what the President’s Executive Order means for their employees and how or if it should be enforced. There’s a lot of gray area, and there are a lot of mixed feelings about the vaccine. This is why looking at data from the before mentioned survey can be helpful for understanding how people are feeling about vaccines.
Support for senior care workers being vaccinated was fairly consistent between men and women, throughout various income and education levels, and regardless of health. As a general rule, the older someone was, the more likely they were to want their care workers to be vaccinated. There was more support in the Southern portion of the U.S. for vaccinations, while the midwest was the least supportive of this. White people were slightly more likely than Black or Hispanic individuals to oppose a mandate. People under age 50 were split whether care workers should be vaccinated.
Even those that oppose those in the senior care industry being vaccinated are rare. 22 percent of White Americans were against caregivers being vaccinated, which was the highest percentage noted. Overall, support is very high for care workers to be vaccinated.
But even though support is really high for all senior care workers to receive the vaccine, mandating this is a completely different story. Ultimately, this is a decision that care services and employees need to sort out individually. There have been some companies that have decided it is mandatory for those that work with the elderly to be vaccinated and some people have left their jobs because of a disagreement here. This is unfortunate, but it is understandable. The whole point of senior care is to focus on the needs and wellbeing of the elderly. If a staff member is not willing to do what their company requires of them to help make this happen, then these kinds of decisions need to be made.
For those that are questioning the efficacy of such a mandate, think about it like this: If a life can be saved by being a bit stricter with regulations, isn’t it worthwhile as long as no liberties are being infringed upon?
The vaccine has become a hot topic in some circles. However, an overwhelming amount of evidence supports the safety of the vaccine. But, if you still have questions about the vaccine or you’re on the fence, that’s okay. Feel free to speak with your doctor or another trusted medical professional to learn more. This is always a smarter alternative to getting your information off of social media or biased news sites.
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