A recent article published in the American Journal of Infection Control found that only 53.9% of nursing home staff in three states (Florida, Georgia and Wisconsin) had been vaccinated against the flu during the 2011-2012 flu season. Low vaccination rates among nursing home staff are of public health concern as they may put many nursing home residents at risk.

The figure below is a re-design of a figure published in the original article and shows the wide variation in vaccination rates by facility. In one facility in Florida only 15% of nursing home staff were vaccinated against the flu.

Nursing home staff vaccination rates by facility in three states

Notes: Each square represents the estimated proportion of nursing home staff members that received a flu vaccination at each facility. The line represents the 95% confidence interval of the proportion vaccinated. Facilities are ranked based on the proportion of staff vaccinated at each facility and ordered from low to high along the x-axis   

Data Source: Re-design of Figure 1. JD Daugherty et al. Influenza vaccination rates and beliefs about vaccination among nursing home employees. American Journal of Infection Control, Volume 43, Issue 2, 2015, 100 – 106.