Coronavirus vaccinations at long-term care facilities have risen by more than two-thirds since last week, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Updated figures from the CDC on Wednesday showed that now nearly 25% of COVID-19 vaccine doses distributed to long-term facilities have been administered to residents and employees. Overall, about 4.5 million doses have been sent out through the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program; about 1.1 million first-round doses have been given.
Last week, the data showed that less than 15% of the distributed doses had actually been administered, which critics called “absolutely unconscionable.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar last week pledged that vaccination efforts in long-term care facilities would be seeing “a significant ramp-up” in the coming days and weeks. During a media briefing Tuesday, Azar said federal health officials expect that 95% of long-term care facilities will have had their first visit with vaccine doses by the end of next week.
CVS Health executives, who partnered with the federal government for the long-term care vaccination effort along with Walgreens, said the company will be more than doubling its vaccine efforts at long-term care facilities.
To date, the company has done more than 8,000 clinics in such facilities and has administered more than 700,000 vaccines, executives noted during the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference on Tuesday.
“This week, we will do over 10,000 clinics in long-term care facilities, and it will take that to administer about a million vaccines,” explained CVS Health President and CEO Larry Merlo.
