Last week, DPH issued guidance on Long-Term Care Facility Health Care Personnel Vaccination (HCP) for COVID-19 and Influenza. As a reminder, as a condition of licensure, under 105 CMR 150.000 Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities, long-term care facilities are required to ensure all HCP are vaccinated annually with seasonal influenza vaccine and are up to date with vaccine doses for COVID-19 as recommended by the CDC, unless an individual is exempt from vaccination. Exemptions per the regulation state a facility shall not require an individual to receive an influenza vaccine or COVID-19 vaccine if the individual declines the vaccine. The facility shall require exempt individuals to take mitigation measures, consistent with guidance from the Department.
Being up to date with vaccine doses for COVID-19 and seasonal influenza means that all HCP who are not subject to an exemption must receive one updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine, at least eight weeks after receiving the last dose of any COVID-19 and one dose of the 2024-2025 seasonal influenza vaccine no later than March 31, 2025.
Nursing homes must use the CDC’s NHSN to report cumulative weekly COVID-19 vaccination for residents and HCP through the Long-Term Care Facility Component. DPH will use the data submitted for the week ending March 31, 2025, to determine a nursing home’s compliance with the regulatory requirement. For influenza, consistent with CMS regulations, nursing homes must report HCP influenza vaccination summary data via CDC’s NHSN, make the data available to DPH and submit by May 15, 2025.