Long-stay residents should be the first in line to receive a precious COVID-19 vaccination through an innovative federal partnership. But so far, the vaccine’s release to the state’s most vulnerable population has resulted mainly in frustration – and now some counties are offering vaccinations for nursing homes and assisted living facilities from their limited supply, rather than continuing to wait for the federal vaccination program. .
Using the vaccine doses provided by Contra Costa County, John Muir Health on Wednesday will vaccinate people in Byron Park on Walnut Creek, following last week’s injections given to residents and staff at another facility, Viamonte, which it hoped to depend on. of the federal program. And this week, employees and residents of the Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, one of the largest qualified nursing centers in the state, received their vaccines from the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
“The feds blew it,” said Michael Wasserman, a geriatrician and former president of the California Long-Term Medical Association who criticized the federal plan, which was to operate by supplying vaccines directly to CVS and Walgreens for elderly homes.
It is difficult, however, to get a comprehensive picture of what is happening with the federal program in California. Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not respond to a request for information, and a CVS spokesman insisted that the company started vaccinating in California nursing homes on December 28. But the Bay Area News Group spoke to only one institution – the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living – that said it is currently receiving vaccines from CVS.
The stakes are high, as cases continue to rise in long-term care facilities. At least 23,335 residents and employees in nursing homes and assisted living facilities were actively infected with COVID-19 this week, according to the latest state data. And at least 9,443 people who work and live in these facilities have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Months ago, federal authorities announced a plan to help, using Walgreens and CVS to work directly with nursing homes to vaccinate the hundreds of thousands of elderly Americans in this vulnerable population. This should take place in a separate way from vaccinations by health professionals and others, which were referred by state and municipal health departments. But in early December, the effort was delayed.
The first doses were sent to these pharmacies directly from the manufacturers before the holidays, but many facilities are only now discovering when the cavalry will arrive – and in many cases it is not too early. At Chaparral House, a nursing center specializing in Berkeley, executives expected the first vaccines to be given there in December, but have now been told they must make plans for mid-January.
Chaparral House chief operations officer Chuck Cole said his facility tried to register in October for Walgreens to be launched, but spent months without hearing anything and had to register again several times before the government website showed the community. as registered.
“The Trump administration’s bravado and its speed of Warp operation did not prove to be very accurate or the deployment smooth or fast,” said Cole.
According to the California Department of Public Health, about 90% of qualified nursing facilities and 65% of assisted living facilities across the state have signed up to receive vaccines through the federal program. For those who have not signed up, the department said, “the local health departments, in partnership with the local unit, will make a determination on the distribution and administration of vaccines for the unit.”
A spokesman for Contra Costa County said he was coordinating vaccination at 80 facilities, including small rooms with rooms and care. Spokesperson Will Harper said the county had stepped up because it was reported that Walgreens and CVS planned to vaccinate people who live and work in qualified wards first and then return to residential care institutions. Given the disproportionate number of coronavirus cases and deaths linked to nursing homes, he said, the county felt that such a vulnerable population “couldn’t wait”.
San Mateo County Chief Health Officer Louise Rogers said she was “encouraged” by the recent progress that CVS and Walgreens were making to start vaccines in the county, with 11 units scheduled so far. Still, she said the county is partnering with the Safeway pharmacy to provide injections to some 1,300 vulnerable residents and staff at the congregation’s health centers. She said it was “a role that we hoped to play as this massive effort increased in scale”.
Other counties in the Bay Area did not immediately answer questions about whether they were working on similar efforts. In Los Angeles County, officials said in mid-December that they would choose not to participate in the federal program in an attempt to distribute vaccines more quickly to the elderly.
Walgreens did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a CVS spokesman said things were going according to plan.
“We started making vaccination visits to California units on December 28, the date set by the CDC for this state,” said Monica Prinzing. “According to California’s vaccination prioritization guidelines, vaccinations in qualified nursing facilities were activated first, before vaccinations in assisted living facilities. As a result, we will start vaccinating in assisted living facilities on 11 January. “
But advocates for nursing homes painted a much darker picture.
“Not only did they have a bad plan, they also didn’t prepare. And what they prepared is bad, ”said Wasserman. CVS and Walgreens “would not distinguish a retirement home from an apartment complex for the elderly. When they come in, they don’t understand the workflow, the residents. “
The delays also left families struggling for information.
Maddie Napel and her family hoped that her brother, who lives in a small residential group for adults with disabilities, would be one of the first to receive the vaccination.
“No one in my family has been allowed to see him since February, and we desperately want to see him – alive and healthy – again,” said Napel.
But beyond a period of time from mid to late January, Napel’s family was not notified of a specific vaccine date. Until then, they continue to wait.