The study, released in a study involving Chicago nursing homes, showed the use of protective gear, infection control protocols and routine testing, no matter the level of vaccination rates. Concerns have also increased with the rise of virus variants.
According to the CDC and a team of investigators from the Kentucky Department of Public Health, resistance to the vaccine is among staff at nursing homes nationwide, and low vaccination rates of vaccination increase the likelihood of an outbreak in facilities.
The authors of the Kentucky study wrote, “To protect skilled nursing facility residents, it is imperative that health care providers, as well as skilled nursing facility residents, be vaccinated.”
Outbreaks include a type of virus that has multiple mutations in the spike protein, similar to the way in which vaccines are less effective. Vaccinated residents and health care workers at a Kentucky facility were less likely to be infected than those who were not vaccinated, and they were less likely to develop symptoms. The study estimated that the vaccine, identified as Pfizer-BioNTech, showed an effectiveness of 66 percent for residents and 75.9 percent for employees, and was 86 percent to 87 percent effective in preventing symptomatic disease.
In the Kentucky outbreak, the version of the virus is not on the CDC’s list, which is considered to be of concern or interest. But, the study authors noted, the version has several mutations of importance: D614G, which demonstrates evidence of increased variability; In the receptor-binding domain of the E484K spike protein, also seen in B.1.351, which was first identified in South Africa, and P.1. of Brazil; And W152L, which may reduce the effectiveness of neutralizing antibodies.
