Vulnerable people living in care facilities are in a high-risk situation, as are those in nursing homes. But the rollout plan for COVID-19 vaccines does not give priority to this group of people in the first phase of nationwide vaccinations. These older people, who are physically independent but often still need medical care, live in the same communal facilities that the nursing home residents are at greater risk of contracting the virus.
According to ABC News, assistance facilities – or ALFs – are not federally regulated, so no data is available on how COVID-19 affected this group of people.
“The risk of spreading and spreading communities in an assisted living facility is just as great as in a nursing home,” said Zach Shamberg, president of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association. In Pennsylvania, residents with caregivers were not one of the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which waited several months before it would be their turn. Last week, however, Gov. Tom Wolf announced an expansion of the distribution of vaccines across the state, which would include those living in Phases 1A.
Shamberg told ABC News that with the current pace of drug administration in Pennsylvania, many residents with first aid can only get their second chance in April, May or even later.
“We’re talking about being able to vaccinate our most vulnerable residents during the summer months,” he said. Experts believe that residents with emergency care fell through the cracks because public health officials thought there was just enough vaccine for those in nursing homes.
Even in states that include residents with assistance in their distribution plan, there have been delays and snuff.
These issues have frustrated many facility administrators. Robert Loomis, the administrator of A Country Place, a home in the Tampa Bay area, said he was forced to call Walgreens, one of two pharmacies capable of delivering vaccines to nationwide nursing homes, to request the pharmacy to act the pace.
“My frustration was with the way the decisions were made with the shots,” he told the Tampa Bay Times. ” Weeks have passed and we are seeing massive distribution to the public, but not to us. ”
Pharmacies CVS and Walgreen provide the drugs at long-term care institutions through the federal pharmacy partnership for long-term care program.
Veronica Catoe, executive director of the Florida Assisted Living Association, told the Times that there was frustration and confusion about the initial vaccination in ALFs and why these communities were prioritized behind nursing homes and many in the general 65-and-older. populations. ”
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