The federal effort to vaccinate staff and residents of long-term care facilities began Friday.
CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance, which are heading up the program, began vaccinating people at long-term care facilities in Connecticut, Florida, and Ohio. A dozen more states will start next week, including Kentucky, Nevada, New York, and Oklahoma.
“We’re really at the stage now where our field and store teams are just flat-out to the wall, working around the clock,” CVS executive Chris Cox told the Wall Street Journal.
With over 15,600 nursing homes and 29,000 assisted-living facilities in the United States, the effort faces major challenges in getting the consent of workers and residents. Nursing homes are tasked with securing consent from residents and staffers before pharmacy teams arrive. However, some residents and staffers are reluctant to receive the vaccine. For other residents, consent from family members is needed.
The program begins as deaths in long-term care facilities are rising precipitously. Data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid shows there were 2,893 COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes for the week ending Nov. 15. That surged to 4,525 for the week ending Dec. 6. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes have exceeded 110,000.
