At dusk on the 8th in Moorhead, he announced on Monday, December 28, that vaccinations had begun. Minnesota and other states across the country are deploying them to long-term care centers, with the expectation that North Dakota will begin doing so this week.
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Emily Kollar, executive director of the Moorhead Eventide Senior Living Communities, said the 400 doses of Moderna vaccine will cover all residents and employees of their care center, or qualified campus nursing area.
Due to old age and underlying health conditions, Assistance Center residents are among those most at risk for COVID-19. They will receive a second dose in 28 days.
“It is absolutely indescribable,” said Kollar, adding, “The corridors are full of energy this morning.”
Across the country, the virus has had a devastating impact on nursing home residents. In Minnesota, 3,339 residents of long-term care facilities died of COVID-19, about 65% of the state’s pandemic deaths on Monday, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
The vaccine will be available to people in assisted living facilities at a later date.
Kollar said that the majority of Eventide residents and their families are consenting to receive the vaccine.
Persons not eligible for the vaccine are those who have received therapy with monoclonal antibodies bamlanivimab, known as “bam infusion”. The experimental treatment was approved for emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration in early November for people at high risk of progressing to severe COVID-19 and / or hospitalization.
Nursing Director Amy Vogt at Eventide on Eighth in Moorhead received the COVID-19 vaccination on Monday, December 28. Approximately 400 residents and staff members at the facility’s call center are among the first in long-term care in Minnesota to receive the vaccine. Photo WDAY
Members of Eventide’s nursing leadership team were going from room to room to administer the vaccine on Monday, with another team remaining to keep an eye out for possible side effects.
Kollar hopes that widespread vaccination will enable families to visit again, residents to dine together and do group activities again, and that employees will not have to wear a lab coat, gloves, mask and face shield throughout the shift.
“We are looking forward to seeing the other side of it,” she said.