Health care personnel working in acute care hospitals in Washington had some of the highest influenza vaccination rates in the 2024 to 2025 season, at 78.8%. Skilled nursing facilities reported some of the lowest rates in the state, with just 38.9%.
Those rates represented a roughly 3% increase in vaccinations from the year prior for acute care hospitals, and 3% decrease for certified nursing facilities.
The information comes from self-reported data pulled from the National Healthcare Safety Network. Health centers licensed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are required to report their vaccination rates, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Health said.
That differing immunization policies among health care organizations and facility types, as well as medical and religious exemptions, may contribute to the employee vaccination differences, according to DOH.
In neighboring Idaho and Oregon, acute care hospitals had a roughly 78.6% and 62.2% flu vaccination rate among healthcare personnel, respectively, according to NHSN data.
Compared to a decade before, flu vaccination rates for health care personnel in the 2024 to 2025 season at acute care hospitals had an 8.5% drop in Washington, a 9.4% drop in Idaho and a 16.4% drop in Oregon.
The state’s Department of Health also reported that critical access hospitals in Washington had a flu vaccination rate of 70.6%, a decrease of 1.7% from the year before.
Inpatient rehabilitation facilities, inpatient psychiatric facilities, and long-term acute care hospitals, which were grouped together, had a vaccination rate of 65.8%, according to DOH. That’s an almost 5% increase from the previous season.
Washington’s statewide vaccination rate for all health care personnel was 72.8%, according to DOH.
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