CINCINNATI — Two weeks after President Biden's Dec. 6 COVID vaccination deadline for healthcare workers, many nursing home employees are still unvaccinated, according to the most recent data published by Medicaid and Medicare Services.

The WCPO 9 I-Team reviewed data for dozens of local nursing homes and found many of them fall far short of the president's mandate.

Ohio has one of the lowest nursing home staff vaccination rates in the country, according to the Medicaid and Medicare data.

In Hyde Park Health Center on Cincinnati's East Side, 17% of the employees were vaccinated, according to data published Dec. 5 on the Medicaid and Medicare website.

On Friday, the nursing home's executive director declined the I-Team's request for an interview.

"After our conversation, I went back and reviewed our employee vaccination numbers," Hyde Park Health Center Executive Director Kevin Fluehr wrote in an email to the I-Team. "We are actually at a 72% employee vaccination rate."

Fluehr wrote, "There has been some turnover recently in our HR Department, but everything has been verified for accuracy and the error has been corrected."

Other nursing home operators have told the I-Team that the Medicaid and Medicare data, which is provided by the nursing homes, is often out-dated and not accurate.

The data shows only 29% of the employees at the Chateau at Mountain Crest Nursing and Rehab Center on Cincinnati's West Side had received at least one shot of the COVID vaccine.

The nursing home is managed by JAG Healthcare.

"At some point, this past fall, it might have been that low," JAG Healthcare CEO James Griffiths said. "But I know this, if they came in today, we can show them every single person has a vaccination card. We're going to comply with the law as all healthcare workers and healthcare employers should do."

Related Article: 103 Marines discharged over COVID-19 vaccine mandate
Related Article: 800,000 people in the US have now died of COVID-19

As the delta variant surges across the country, the calls for Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are growing louder —  and more Republicans are joining in. 

"I would encourage people to get the vaccine. I have high confidence in it. I got it myself," said House Republican Whip Steve Scalise. 

"This is not complicated; 97% of the people who are in the hospital now for COVID are unvaccinated. So if there's anybody out there willing to listen: Get vaccinated," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this week. 

Nationwide, vaccination rates among conservatives have lagged behind liberals, and that includes members of Congress.

While 100% of Democrats on the Hill say they’ve been vaccinated, it's unclear how many Republicans can say the same. And there have been several breakout cases among vaccinated Capitol employees, including one lawmaker. 

High-profile conservative media personalities have also made appeals to their viewers in recent days.

"And it absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated. I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccination," said Fox News host Sean Hannity. 

But not all Republicans are putting the same emphasis on their vaccine message. During a Thursday press conference, a group of Republican doctors spent more time focused on the origins of the virus, and they stopped short of issuing a full-throated recommendation for everyone to get vaccinated.   

"Vaccine is a medicine. And just like any other medicine, there are side effects and this is a personal decision. This is not a mandate. This should not come down from the government saying you have to have something because there can be some side effects," said Rep. Greg Murphy.

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, who had COVID-19, just got his first vaccine dose on July 18.

"I had done the antibody test months ago, and it tested positive for the antibodies. And clearly that gives you protection, but with the delta variant I felt I wanted that extra level of protection," said Scalise. 

CDC data shows nearly 162 million Americans are fully vaccinated. But that's only about 57% of people over 12 years old — the population that's eligible to get the vaccine.

Many of the states with the lowest vaccination rates are the ones currently experiencing the highest levels of community spread.   

This story originally reported by Stephanie Liebergen on Newsy.com.

Ohio's Vax-a-Million campaign began a month ago with the hopes of encouraging more residents to get their COVID-19 shots and bringing the state's vaccination rate up to 70%. With only one drawing left, Ohio is still short of that goal.

"The first two weeks were phenomenal," said Gov. Mike DeWine during a Thursday news conference with the fourth week's winners. "It's certainly leveled off. That's pretty much what we would've expected. We expected the real impact to come quickly. The first week, big big, the second week big, then tail off from there."

DeWine said the Ohio Department of Health recorded a 28% increase in vaccinations the weekend after he announced the Vax-a-Million lottery, which each week for five weeks awards $1 million to one vaccinated adult and a full-ride scholarship at any state university to one vaccinated person under 18. Winners in Southwest Ohio have included a woman from Silverton, who snagged $1 million the first week, and a Colerain High grad who won Thursday's scholarship.

On May 13, more than 26,000 Ohioans began their vaccination process. That number dropped by Thursday to a little more than 2,000 people per day beginning their regimen.

Hamilton County Public Health noticed the initial spike.

"It was a nice increase, not nearly as big as we had hoped," said Mike Samet, public information officer for the health agency. "Of course, we want to get everybody vaccinated. We wanted to get to that 70 or 80% by July 4, but we'll take any increases we can get at this point."

In Clermont County, Health Commissioner Julianne Nesbit said she saw declining vaccination numbers before the lottery was announced. At a local level, health workers are still trying to reach communities.

"We have had the goal of partnering with some of our businesses who have offered some incentives," she said. "It's coupons, free movie tickets. We've partnered with RJ Cinemas on it, Little Miami Brewery. We've also partnered with Starlight Drive-In, who's given away some free movie passes out there. So, just trying to look at how we can incentivize."

DeWine said Thursday that President Joe Biden's administration's primary focus is reaching out to the 18-and-older population, which, in Ohio, had a 57% vaccination rate as of Thursday afternoon.

"We have a ways to go, and we're not done yet," DeWine said.

The governor said he has planned future announcements for new incentive programs to encourage more Ohioans to get vaccinated.

TAMPA, Fla. — Tracie Wiechmann has taken every precaution during the pandemic, especially for her adult son, Christopher.

She said though the whole family got vaccinated, they aren’t sure how much protection he has since he has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

“For him, we don’t know how protected he is, he’s in a medically fragile state,” Wiechmann said.

She said when the pandemic started, Christopher stayed home from work and they stopped visits from caregivers to reduce risk. But once he was vaccinated, they decided to see a doctor for back pain.

“We were in for a bit of a rude awakening when we went because we kind of had that assumption that healthcare providers would certainly be vaccinated and we discovered that wasn’t the case,” Wiechmann said.

Wiechmann said she learned some staff were not vaccinated and later learned a wheelchair technician and respiratory therapist who arrived for home visits weren’t either.

“I spoke to a lot of people after our experience and they were all shocked and I would say 99% of the people I talked to assumed healthcare workers were vaccinated because they had access to it before the rest of us did,” Wiechmann said. “And I just want people to know if you’re in that situation and you do have a compromised immune system — before you go anywhere, you call and you ask those questions before you go anywhere.”

According to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, as of June 4, 58.2% of current hospital staff in the state have received the vaccine. The information is self-reported by health facilities.

“It’s not going very well overall pending on the location," said Jay Wolfson, a senior associate vice president at the Morsani College of Medicine. "Some large healthcare institutions have had 70-80% success in getting at least one shot some cases two, others are sometimes lower than 20%. The highest risk place appears to be long-term care facilities.”

Wolfson said mandating vaccines is a tricky issue since none of the COVID-19 vaccines have been approved beyond an emergency use authorization.

“In Florida, you cannot mandate it yet though the employment lawyers and the occupational safety health administration are indicating that you can," Wolfson said. "A very recent — just this past week — federal court in Texas for the Methodist Hospital in Houston said that the hospital may mandate that its employees get vaccinated even without the final approval by the FDA beyond the EUA. So this is a very significant decision by a federal court."

Johns Hopkins Medicine, which includes Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, announced it would require clinical and nonclinical personnel to be fully vaccinated by September.

Other hospital systems in the Tampa area are not requiring vaccinations, but encouraging it for all employees.

Daycare said it’s not requiring the vaccine but highly encourages it for team members and community members eligible to receive it.

“The Delta variant is just one more reason people should get vaccinated. To reduce risk of exposure, masks are required inside all of our hospitals and patient care areas,” a Daycare spokesperson said.

HCA Healthcare said they strongly encourage it, but don’t require it.

“While in our hospitals, our employees are masked, regardless of vaccine status. We have provided 23,900 COVID-19 vaccines to date, which includes vaccinations provided to our caregivers and the community,” an HCA spokesperson said.

AdventHealth said while the vaccine is not currently required, they strongly encourage their team members to get the COVID-19 vaccination.

A spokesperson for Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System said approximately 70% of their employees and more than 90% of their physicians and medical staff members have been vaccinated.

“We want everyone to get vaccinated, but at this time we are not mandating the shot, primarily because the vaccines are currently approved by the FDA for emergency use only. We continually monitor the data, expert guidance and regulatory changes, and like most hospitals will re-evaluate vaccination requirements in the weeks ahead, especially once the vaccines receive full FDA approval,” the spokesperson said.

In the meantime, Wiechmann is hoping to see more shots in arms and people help protect those who are vulnerable.

“Just have some compassion, if you could — wear a mask if you’re not vaccinated, just to protect other people,” she said.

According to the Florida Department of Health’s weekly COVID-19 report, 55% of Floridians are vaccinated.

A USF statewide survey showed of adults who haven’t been vaccinated more than 35% said they will "probably not" or "definitely not" get vaccinated, while nearly a quarter are still undecided.

This story was originally published by Haley Bull on Scripps station WFTS in Tampa, Florida.

COVID-19 vaccine providers and local health officials are concerned about the drop in demand for the shots, as mask rules relax throughout the Tri-State region.

"If we don't step up and get vaccinated, or if certain sectors of communities don't get vaccinated, the virus can run rampant in those sectors," said Suzi Francis, ambulatory clinical pharmacy manager at St. Elizabeth's Hospital.

In Northern Kentucky, less than one third of the population is fully vaccinated. Ohio counties range from 21% to 42%.

Clinics open to walk-ins remain busy, but there are signs that demand is trailing off.

"We are filling our appointments, but it is taking a little bit longer," said Francis. "I think we're to the population that hasn't seen as much of the personal devastation that COVID could cause or they feel like they're safer because they're younger."

People in their 20s have more active COVID-19 cases than any other age group in Northern Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

As schools and universities approach summer break and mask restrictions and capacity limits relax region-wide, health officials worry that more contagious or severe variants of the virus could become an issue in unvaccinated groups.

"I think this is important, when you make that decision, when you're thinking your hesitancy, saying 'well I made it this far, I might as well not bother with it,'" said Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum, professor of infectious diseases at UC College of Medicine. "That would be true if the virus wasn't changing. But with the virus changing and adapting to its environment, you have to change and adapt too."

Until herd immunity is achieved, health officials expect virus mutations to continue increasing the likelihood of necessary booster shots for those who have already been vaccinated.