Anxiety increases as long-term care waits for COVID-19 vaccines

Frustration is growing at the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations in long-term care locations, where some homes are still waiting for the first shots as they fend off a virus that could devastate their residents.

The big drugstore chains that are required to give injections at these places are a long way from vaccinating nursing home residents and staff. But some other types of group residences don’t get the first doses until mid-February or later, despite being among the top priorities for admissions.

CVS and Walgreens have started a massive vaccination push in nearly all states, and they say they remain on track. But the country’s advocates and experts are concerned about delays in delivering vaccines that have been available for more than a month.

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

Government officials placed residents and long-term care staff among their top vaccination priorities after approving the use of injections of Pfizer and Moderna in emergencies late last year. This also applies to 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.

The vaccinations then progressed quickly in some states, such as West Virginia, which was not dependent on the drugstore chains, and Connecticut.

But – as with other aspects of the rollout – the results were generally choppy. In many places, home caretakers and family members of residents have watched with frustration as states opened up the possibility of vaccine eligibility for other populations before work in long-term care homes was finished.

Laura Vuchetich says her elderly parents live in a residential community in Milwaukee and urgently need shots. But they’ve been told they won’t be getting them until mid-February, even though pharmacies have started handing out hundreds of doses to younger people, including a friend of hers who is in good health.

“They should be at the front of the line,” she said. ‘They’re in the mid-80s and my mom had a heart attack last year. It’s just baffling to me. “

Such houses have been badly affected by the corona virus.

A federal government study last fall found that an average of one death occurred among every five residents of a residential care facility with COVID-19 in states that provided data. That compares to one death in every 40 people with the virus in the general population.

The government ordered CVS and Walgreens to deliver the recordings to long-term care locations in nearly every state. Each vaccine requires two injections a few weeks apart, and CVS and Walgreens say they’ve packed first-dose clinics into nursing homes.

The chains plan three visits to each site. CFS spokesperson TJ Crawford said most residents will be fully vaccinated after the second visit and the vast majority of assisted living facilities and other homes will have their third visit by mid-March. Some clinics will close in April.

While they wait, the people who work and live in those locations are trapped in limbo, hoping the virus won’t spread to them or make it back, said Nicole Howell, who runs a California-based nonprofit that advocates for long-term residents. .

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

Severine Petras saw a COVID-19 outbreak develop at a Pennsylvania rest home that her business operates a few weeks before the first vaccines arrived. The CEO of Priority Life Care said the recent outbreak affected a “significant” number of staff and some residents, including one person who has died.

Vaccination planning has been slow in that state, she said.

“We should have had at least one round of vaccination there,” she said. “It would have helped enormously.”

Petras said she was partially frustrated because it was widely known that COVID-19 cases would increase after the holidays. She wishes vaccines had been planned earlier to protect against them.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3.5 million doses have been given in long-term care facilities since Sunday morning. That’s about a third of the roughly 10 million vaccines Grabowski estimates will be needed to fully protect residents and workers.

“It almost feels like we’ve been doing this backwards, where they signed a contract with the pharmacies and got the schedule drawn up instead of saying, ‘Here’s the schedule you have to meet,'” he said.

The drugstore chains have faced several challenges. In some locations, a high percentage of the staff rejected the shots on the first visits. The companies also had to set up thousands of clinics and reschedule some in locations where COVID-19 outbreaks developed.

CVS and Walgreens say states have determined when they can begin giving admissions to assisted living facilities, and will complete first-dose clinics when they were allowed to begin in December. But other states didn’t let them start until mid-January. They also say they are putting thousands of workers into the effort.

Still, Grabowski and Howell say outside help may be needed to speed up efforts in some areas.

In New York, the Empire State Association of Assisted Living contacted state regulators because some homes had first scheduled clinics in March, executive director Lisa Newcomb said. Those clinic dates were then largely moved to the end of January.

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

In Florida, the state enlisted an outside company to help deliver vaccines when drugstore chains couldn’t schedule a first clinic until the end of January.

Pilar Carvajal, CEO of Innovation Senior Living, said the company called one of its homes that had not yet had a clinic date and showed up the next day to take photos.

She said the vaccinations should be complete by the end of March at her six assisted living facilities in Florida. Then she no longer has to worry about employees bringing the virus to work after doing something as simple as eating out.

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