The Biden administration on Thursday announced new plans to allocate Covid-19 vaccines to dialysis centers nationwide. This new partnership with dialysis clinics is an effort to vaccinate people on dialysis, as well as medical staff in outpatient dialysis clinics.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, applauded the partnership in a written statement released Thursday, saying she is “proud” that the CDC has worked with dialysis providers’ organizations to support vaccination of most dialysis patients. and medical staff.
This effort is another important step in ensuring that vaccines reach the most medically vulnerable communities and that equity continues to anchor our efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic, Walensky said in the statement.
Dialysis is used to treat people with kidney failure, which affects more than half a million people in the United States, and most people go to a dialysis center for treatment.
“Each year, more than 550,000 people receive regular dialysis treatments through the Medicare End-Stage Renal Disease Program. The efforts of dialysis partners will enter clinics participating in the Medicare COVID-19 vaccine program for patients and their workers.” , said Walensky. , adding that dialysis facilities already have “long” experience in administering vaccinations, such as influenza and hepatitis B vaccines.
Walensky added that people on dialysis often have more severe results when they take Covid-19, half require hospitalization and 20% to 30% die, she said.
Moreover, the advanced stage of chronic kidney disease disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities, including African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans / Alaska Natives, Walensky said. Dialysis clinics offer an innovative way to help COVID-19 vaccines reach populations that have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response, the nonprofit American Kidney Fund issued a statement on Thursday applauding the White House’s decision to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to dialysis centers. The American Society of Nephrology posted on Twitter a link to the White House announcement about the dialysis program, calling it “great news.”