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 health care workers in outpatient 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 partnered with dialysis organizations to increase the vaccination of most dialysis patients. to support. and healthcare personnel.
“This effort is another important step in ensuring that vaccines reach the most medically vulnerable communities and that equality 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.
Every year, more than 550,000 people receive regular dialysis treatments through the Medicare End-Stage Renal Disease Program. The efforts of the dialysis partners will be onboard clinics participating in the Medicare program to administer COVID-19 vaccines to their patients. and workers, ”said Walensky. , adding that dialysis facilities already have “long-standing” experience in administering vaccinations, such as influenza and hepatitis B injections.
Walensky added that people on dialysis often have more serious consequences when they receive Covid-19, half require hospitalization and 20% to 30% die, she said.
“In addition, advanced chronic kidney disease disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities, including African Americans, Hispanics and Native American / Alaska Natives,” said Walensky. “Dialysis clinics provide a trusted innovative path to help COVID-19 vaccines reach the population disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In response, the American Kidney Fund nonprofit released a statement on Thursday applauding the White House’s decision to distribute Covid-19 vaccines to dialysis centers. The American Society of Nephrology tweeted a link to the White House announcement about the dialysis program, calling it “ big news. ”