(CNN) President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that he is directing all nursing homes to require their staff be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to continue receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding. Many are in facilities in areas with the lowest staff vaccination rates. About 1.3 million people are employed by the more than 15,000 nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid. "Focusing only on nursing homes will cause vaccine-hesitant workers to flee to other health care providers and leave many centers without adequate staff to care for residents. "Without Medicaid and Medicare funding, nursing homes cannot provide the quality care that our nation's most vulnerable older adults need."

Source: CNN August 18, 2021 18:00 UTC