Mark Parkinson, president and chief executive officer of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) made the following statement today regarding the Biden administration’s announcement requiring all Medicare- and Medicaid-certified health care settings, as well as larger businesses, to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We applaud President Biden for expanding COVID-19 vaccination requirements to all Medicare and Medicaid-certified health care settings, as well as larger businesses. This will help prevent unvaccinated nursing home staff from looking for new lines of work, alleviating some of the staffing challenges too many long term care facilities are currently facing.

“Nearly 4,000 providers expressed their concerns about a federal mandate only for nursing home staff, and we appreciate the administration listening to those concerns and applying this policy more broadly.
 
“This vaccine policy will also help protect our nation’s most vulnerable, who often interact with a variety of health care professionals on a regular basis. We support the administration’s efforts to get more people vaccinated, and we look forward to working with them on finding additional solutions that will help us address this unprecedented situation."​