Minnesota Nursing Home Workers Warn Vaccine Mandate Will Cause Staff Shortages

(KNSI) – Nursing home staff warn that people are leaving their jobs ahead of federal vaccine mandates that could put the elderly’s care in rural Minnesota in jeopardy.

Abbey Tiemann is a Certified Nurses Assistant who’s been a nurse for 13 years. She testified to the Minnesota Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee on Wednesday that 40% to 45% of the staff is vaccinated at her facility.

“We’ve come to the point where no one else is willing to take that vaccine. I’m one of them. I along with many of that 55% of the staff are willing to walk away from our jobs, potentially healthcare entirely because it’s creating a crisis.”

She says six nursing assistants, three nurses and an administrator working overnights have quit in the last month before the mandate takes effect.

“The staffing of the facility is already bare bones. We’re exhausted. Right now, we’re only at 50% capacity for residents and we cannot take more because there is no staff to care for them.”

The Senate hearing included other nurses who echoed Abbey’s fears and stated that staffing shortages would worsen because of the mandate.

In September, President Joe Biden announced that health care workers at hospitals and other health care settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding would have to be vaccinated. That includes long-term care facilities like nursing homes.

The federal government hasn’t yet given any guidelines for vaccine requirements for staff at long-term care facilities.

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