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.
More seniors will be able to start getting their first COVID-19 vaccinations after top federal health officials ordered states to expand their priority groups for doses this week.
With almost one million first COVID-19 inoculations completed in U.S. long-term care facilities, federal officials say they will ask the states to begin vaccinating all U.S. seniors and vulnerable younger adults.
Vaccination efforts in long-term care facilities are expected to accelerate noticeably in the coming days and weeks, the nation’s top federal health official asserted Wednesday.
The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday announced that nursing homes will receive another $1.1 billion in COVID-19 relief funding.
Nursing home residents and workers may start receiving the first doses of Pfizer-BionNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine as early as today after the vaccine gained key federal approvals over the weekend.
“I hope this will be more evidence for the American population that the data with these vaccines are clear, are transparent and demonstrate that they are effective and safe for use in the general population,” said Operation Warp Speed’s chief scientist.
The rollout could begin 24 hours after Pfizer’s drug is vetted on Dec. 10, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday. CVS Health expects to bring the shots to nursing homes within 48 hours of FDA authorization, he added.
Nursing home residents could be just a little more than two weeks away from receiving the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to federal health officials.
Nearly all of the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes have opted into the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution program that would provide the medication to long-term care facilities at no cost.
