In our fight against the COVID-19 virus, vaccines work. The vaccines are highly effective in preventing people from getting sick or seriously ill from COVID-19 and in slowing the spread of the virus. The vaccines are the best tool we have as new, more contagious, and threatening variants of the virus, like Delta, begin to emerge.
Maryland, and our healthcare heroes, have led the nation in vaccination. Skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, assisted living campuses, and hospitals in Maryland were prioritized and the first vaccines were getting into the arms of Marylanders in need on December 23, 2020.
Even before any government vaccine mandate and as HFAM issued statements supporting healthcare employers who mandated the vaccine, on average, 79 percent of the staff were vaccinated—today, 86.8 percent of staff are fully vaccinated vaccinated.
All of that said, now is NOT a time for any of us to let down our guard – together, we must continue pushing to increase staff vaccination in the healthcare sector.
That’s why we are eternally grateful to Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Adrienne Jones, as well as Cherie Taylor and Renee Harris of the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington for recording this HFAM public service video to help encourage people living and working in skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers and on assisted living campuses to get vaccinated—and to get the booster!
