Vera Leip, 88, will receive a Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine from Christine Philips, RN Florida Department of Health in Broward County, at the John Knox Village Continuing Care Retirement Community on December 16, 2020 in Pompano Beach, Florida. The institution, one of the first in the country to do so, vaccinated about 170 people, including health workers and elderly care providers. (Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
TO Newsroom
UPDATE 2:35 PM PT – Saturday, December 19, 2020
Residents and staff members of nursing homes in the US are starting to receive their first round of the coronavirus vaccine.
On Friday, Walgreens and CVS Health Corp. known that they have started giving the Pfizers vaccine to people who live and work in long-term care facilities.
New York officials said nursing homes should expect their first vaccine doses by Monday.
A Connecticut nursing home has already started rolling out the shots to its residents. They call the vaccine a “bottle of hope.”
“Our residents have suffered tremendously and our staff have felt the pressure… in caring for residents during this pandemic [while] take care of themselves and their families too, ”said Richard Feifer, Genesis Healthcare’s Chief Medical Officer. “And some have gotten sick themselves, but these bottles of hope have arrived.”
Respiratory Coordinator Sabrina Albert holds up a thumbs up as she holds a photo of a friend and colleague who died of the coronavirus after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Thursday, December 17, 2020, in Saginaw, Michigan. Albert is one of the first Covenant HealthCare employees to receive the vaccine. (Kaytie Boomer / Saginaw News via AP)
Walgreens expects to vaccinate about three million residents and staff in 35,000 nursing homes, according to reports.
About a week after the national rollout begins, both CVS Health Corp. when Walgreens plans to administer Moderna’s vaccine.