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.
“This is the right therapy, but it needs more study … and it needs engaged medical director oversight and supervision,” says AMDA’s Executive Director Chris Laxton. Emergency approval of COVID antibody therapy is predicted in the coming weeks.
The federal government is now distributing the first $2.5 billion in COVID-19 relief funding to nursing homes with increased testing, staffing and personal protective equipment needs.
The next round of coronavirus relief fund payments to nursing homes will be based on facility performance in an effort to ensure better outcomes, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday.
Nursing home residents and workers may be among the first to receive a coronavirus vaccine, depending on what a federal committee decides.
Residents and healthcare workers in long-term care settings should receive top priority for a COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available, the nation’s largest nursing home association urged in a letter to a top health official.
Kindred Healthcare on Wednesday sued Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar for more than $10.1 million in lost reimbursements, saying a previous decision penalizes some of the company’s long-term care hospitals and a skilled nursing facility for not joining certain states’ Medicaid programs.
President Donald Trump chose a former pharmaceutical company executive in mid-November to take over as the nation’s top health official.
