March 18, 2021- 4: 11 p.m
Nearly 40 percent of the workers at New York’s group homes for the developmentally disabled have refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 — even though a Cuomo administration policy mandates the facilities to accept people with the coronavirus, The Post has learned.
Meanwhile, one upstate group home was locked down this week after a worker tested positive for the deadly disease, the outraged mom of a resident said.
The move resulted in the cancellation of all social activities for the residents, many of whom struggle with intellectual deficits that make it harder for them to cope with the stress of isolation.
In an email to state officials, the mom fumed that her autistic son and other residents “are fully aware that they have been vaccinated and do not understand why they are being punished because a staff who refused the vaccine now has covid.”
“Even THEY understand this is cruel and inhumane treatment. It broke my heart!” she wrote.
“I have no doubt that if it was was your child, things would [be] fixed fast.”
Statistics provided by the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities show that although 77 percent of group home residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, the comparable figure for workers is just 24.5 percent.
And while 10 percent of residents have refused to be inoculated, 39 percent of workers say they won’t take the shots.
The remaining workers — about 35 percent — “have neither received nor declined the vaccine,” according to the OPWDD.
By comparison, 52 percent of nursing home workers have been vaccinated, according to data posted online by the state Health Department.
