Anxiety increases as long-term care awaits COVID-19 vaccines

Frustration is growing over the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations in long-term care settings, where some homes are still waiting for the first shots while avoiding a virus that could kill residents.

The main pharmacy chains tasked with taking pictures in these places are far from vaccinating residents and nursing home staff. But some other types of group residences will not receive their first doses until mid-February or later, despite being among the top priorities for photography.

CVS and Walgreens have started massive vaccination pressure in almost all states and say it continues over time. But lawyers and resident experts are worried about delays in administering available vaccines for more than a month.

“Every week you wait and don’t get vaccinated is a big problem here,” said David Grabowski, a professor of health policy at Harvard Medical School. “I feel like this process is still too slow.”

Government officials have placed residents and long-term care personnel among their top immunization priorities after authorizing the emergency use of the Pfizer and Moderna fires late last year. This includes both nursing homes, where residents receive medical care 24 hours a day; assisted living facilities, where people generally need less help; and other types of group homes.

Vaccinations then continued rapidly in some states, such as West Virginia, which did not rely on pharmacy chains and Connecticut.

But, as with other aspects of the launch, the results were generally hectic. In many places, homeworkers and relatives of residents watched in frustration as states opened vaccine eligibility to other populations before completing work on long-term care homes.

Laura Vuchetich says her elderly parents live in a supportive community in Milwaukee and need photos. But they were told they would not receive them until mid-February, even though pharmacies began distributing hundreds of doses to younger people, including a friend of hers in good health.

“It should be at the front of the line,” she said. “I’m in the mid-80s, and my mother had a heart attack last year. He only manages for me. ”

Such houses have been hit hard by coronavirus.

A study conducted by the federal government last fall found that an average of one death occurred among the five residents of COVID-19 assisted living units in the data-providing states. This compares with one death in every 40 people with the virus in the general population.

The government has commissioned CVS and Walgreens to manage the photos in long-term care locations in almost every state. Each vaccine requires two photos a few weeks apart, and CVS and Walgreens say they have closed first-dose clinics in nursing homes.

The chains plan three visits to each location. CVS spokesman TJ Crawford said most residents would be fully vaccinated after the second visit, and the vast majority of care facilities and other residences would have a third visit by mid-March. Some clinics will close in April.

While they wait, people who work and live in those locations are stuck in their tongues, hoping the virus won’t spread to them or return, said Nicole Howell, who runs a nonprofit in California that advocates for long-term care residents. .

“They are essentially standing at the front door, fighting the disease with disinfectant and limited staff,” said Howell, executive director of Ombudsman Services in Contra Costa, Solano and Alameda counties.

Severine Petras followed the development of a COVID-19 outbreak in a care home in Pennsylvania, her company operating a few weeks before the first vaccines arrived. Priority Life Care Executive Director said the recent outbreak affected a “significant” number of staff and some residents, including one person who died.

Vaccine scheduling has been slow in this state, she said.

“We should have had at least one round of vaccinations there,” she said. “It would have helped a lot.”

Petras said she was partially frustrated because it was widely known that COVID-19 cases would increase after the holidays. She wants the vaccines to have been programmed earlier to protect against this.

As of Sunday morning, 3.5 million doses have been administered in long-term care units, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This represents about a third of the approximately 10 million vaccines that Grabowski estimates will be needed to fully protect residents and employees.

“I almost felt like I did it back, where they contracted with the pharmacies and let us set the schedule instead of saying, ‘Here’s the schedule you have to follow,'” he said.

Pharmacy chains have faced several challenges. In some locations, a high percentage of staff declined photos during initial visits. Companies also had to set up thousands of clinics and reschedule some in locations where COVID-19 outbreaks had developed.

CVS and Walgreens say states have decided when they could start taking pictures at assisted living facilities and ended first-dose clinics when they were allowed to begin in December. But other states did not allow them to start until mid-January. They also say it is pouring thousands of employees into the effort.

Even so, Grabowski and Howell say external assistance may be needed to accelerate the effort in some areas.

In New York, the Empire State Association for Assisted Living contacted state regulators because some homes had initial clinics scheduled for March, said executive director Lisa Newcomb. These data of the clinic were moved especially at the end of January.

“We had some very upset members who had to wait until March,” she said.

In Florida, the state brought in an outside company to help deliver vaccines if pharmacy chains could not schedule a first clinic by the end of January.

Pilar Carvajal, CEO for Innovation Senior Living, said the company called one of her homes that had never been to the clinic before and showed up the next day to start offering photos.

She said vaccinations should be complete at Florida’s six care facilities by the end of March. Then she can no longer worry that employees bring the virus to work after she has done something as simple as going out to dinner.

“That’s the only thing we can’t control,” she said. “The sooner we get vaccinated, the safer we will be.”