Feds unveil plan to get coronavirus shots to nursing homes via CVS, Walgreens
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials on Friday unveiled a plan to get yet-to-be-approved coronavirus vaccines to nursing home residents free of charge, enlisting two national pharmacy chains to help.
Such a
vaccine is not yet available, and that led to skepticism from some
long-term care experts. The distribution program is contingent on the
Food and Drug Administration authorizing a vaccine, which does not
appear to imminent.
Under the voluntary program, trained staff
from CVS and Walgreens would deliver the vaccines to each nursing home
and administer shots. Assisted-living facilities and residential group
homes can also participate. Nursing home staffers can be vaccinated,
too, if they have not already received their shots. Needles, syringes
and other necessary equipment will be included.
The idea is to
give hard-pressed states an all-inclusive system for vaccinating their
most vulnerable residents, said Paul Mango, a senior policy adviser at
the Department of Health and Human Services. “We are trying to eliminate
all potential barriers to getting folks safe and effective vaccines,”
Mango said.
Counting nursing homes and other kinds of group residences, the nation has more than 22,000 facilities.
People
in nursing homes and other long-term care settings account for less
than 1% of the U.S. population, but they represent about 40% of the
deaths from COVID-19, with more than 83,600 fatalities logged by the
COVID Tracking Project.
The Trump administration’s initial
attempts to promote coronavirus testing in nursing homes and to ensure
sufficient supplies of protective gear were hampered by missteps and led
to widespread complaints from nursing home operators and advocates for
older people. The vaccine program seems designed to prevent more
problems at a time when President Donald Trump is battling to hang on to
support from older voters.
Earlier this month, the National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recommended that the
initial, limited doses of vaccine should go to first responders and
high-risk health care workers. Those next in line should include older
residents of nursing homes, the National Academies said, noting that who
gets the shots will depend on age guidelines determined by the data on
vaccine safety and efficacy.
There are many unanswered questions
about the vaccines now undergoing clinical trials, including how well
they will work to prevent infection. It’s also not known whether they
will be equally protective for older adults, as pharmaceutical companies
generally test their products on younger people.
Dr. Christian
Bergman, medical director of a nursing home in Richmond, Virginia, said
he is pleased the government has a plan for rapid deployment of
vaccines, but he needs to see clinical data before any of his patients
get shots.
“I await public release of all data concerning safety
and efficacy,” Bergman said. “Without this data, I will not be able to
ethically endorse this vaccine and promote it within my nursing home.”
The
vaccination plan for nursing homes has been set up under the auspices
of Operation Warp Speed, a White House-backed campaign to quickly
produce and distribute hundreds of millions of doses of approved
vaccines, enough for every American. The goal is to shrink the
production timetable from years to months. The effort involves HHS and
the Defense Department, as well as drugmakers and other private
companies.
Mango said he anticipates that if a vaccine is approved
this year, initial supplies will be limited. Availability will improve
markedly in the first three months of 2021, he said.
HHS is
fielding an online survey for nursing homes to assess their interest in
the vaccine distribution program, but the allocation of vaccines will be
done through state and territorial governments.
Officials are
bullish on the plan, saying vaccines will be on their way to nursing
homes within 24 to 48 hours after FDA approval.
Nursing homes and
long-term care facilities will not be charged for the program. CVS and
Walgreens will be reimbursed for administering the shots at standard
Medicare rates, officials said.
The use of retail pharmacies like
CVS and Walgreens has prompted some concerns, because nursing homes
typically deal with specialized pharmacies and not retail operations.
Michael
Wasserman, a geriatrician and past president of the California
Association of Long Term Care Medicine, said chain retail pharmacies
“don’t necessarily have any clue what it takes to deliver
pharmaceuticals to nursing homes. There are long-term care pharmacies
that do this all the time … Every nursing home in the country has a
consultant pharmacist assigned to that facility.”
Mango said the plan would accommodate nursing homes that want to continue to work with specialized pharmacies.
HHS
Secretary Alex Azar said the goal of the partnership with CVS and
Walgreens is to provide convenient and free vaccination to nursing homes
across the country.