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While residents of nursing homes and their caregivers have been considered a top priority for COVID-19 vaccination, only 38% of nursing home staff accepted shots when they were offered, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed Monday.

Anecdotal reports have been circulating for weeks that nursing home staff members were turning down vaccination offers, but these are the first national-level figures.

"These findings show we have a lot of work to do to increase confidence and also really understand the barriers to vaccination amongst this population," said Dr. Radhika Gharpure, lead author of the study and a member of the CDC’s Vaccine Task Force.

The report cited previous polling data to suggest why employees have been declining vaccines.

Many raised concerns about vaccine side effects. Others said they didn't want to be among the first to receive the vaccines, which were first authorized in December. Some said they didn't trust the government, or referenced false claims about the shots.

It's also possible, Gharpure said, that some people didn't get vaccinated because they weren't working when the shots were distributed, or because they work in multiple facilities and were only counted at one.

Residents, meanwhile, have been much more accepting of vaccines, with 78% receiving at least one shot, according to the new report, which examined vaccination rates at more than 11,000 long-term care facilities nationwide between Dec. 18 and Jan. 17.