COVID vaccine will be administered at nursing home facilities in Stanislaus County

Dec. 25—CVS — Pharmacy is beginning a vaccine rollout starting Monday in California, bringing coronavirus vaccinations to residents and staff members in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in places like Stanislaus County.

CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens are getting into the act of vaccinating vulnerable residents in nursing homes as well as the health care workers who care for them.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services chose the two companies to use their pharmacists, nurses and technicians in the nationwide effort to vaccinate people in skilled nursing and congregate living centers, who are among those who've suffered the most from the coronavirus pandemic.

CVS expects to vaccinate almost 700,000 patients in California. It was scheduling dates for administering the Pfizer vaccine at Modesto-area facilities next week and in early January.

CVS Health did not publicly identify the facilities it is working with locally. Some nursing homes chose to partner with Walgreens. A state program is another option.

Eleanor Wong, a district leader for CVS Health, said teams will make three visits to care facilities to make sure residents and staff get the two shots required for the Pfizer vaccination. The majority of residents and staff should be fully vaccinated three to four weeks after the initial visit, CVS said.

There is no charge for patients. Their insurance will reimburse for the vaccination or the government will cover the cost for the uninsured, CVS said.

Wong said, with 10,000 drugstores across the country, CVS has the infrastructure and trained personnel to provide vaccinations on a large scale. The company expects to vaccinate 4 million people at about 40,000 long-term care facilities in different states and plans to help vaccinate the general public starting in March or later.

Deanna Hill, administrator for English Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, said the Modesto center chose to work with CVS Health. English Oaks was given a Jan. 13 date for the first round of vaccine. The second round is set for Feb. 3. The facility will distribute information and begin asking families to sign consent forms Monday.

"We have been providing education on vaccine to staff and why it's important to vaccinate," Hill said.

After 10 months of coping with the coronavirus pandemic, Hill said she believes staff members and residents are anxious to participate in vaccinations to stop the virus from spreading.

"There is always a small number of people who have personal or religious beliefs against vaccinations," Hill said, adding that most individuals want to be protected.

English Oaks, others await COVID guidelines

English Oaks and other nursing homes are awaiting guidelines from the state on whether vaccinations will relax restrictions and allow families to visit their loved ones in nursing homes.

Mike Stein, whose mother is a long-term resident at English Oaks, said he's relieved the vaccine is finally here.

About two weeks ago, the facility on Rumble Road notified families that 22 staff members had tested positive for the coronavirus. Stein said he was afraid the outbreak would take its toll before his mother and other patients could be vaccinated.

Stein said he feels confident in the Pfizer vaccine. "I am not a doctor, but 94 to 95 percent effectiveness is pretty good," he said. "It's about as good as it's going to get."

A week ago, Walgreens said it was administering the Pfizer vaccine at long-term care facilities in Ohio and Connecticut and would expand to other states to vaccinate nearly 3 million patients and staff at 35,000 facilities.

Walgreens said it was supporting the Trump administration's vaccine program, Operation Warp Speed, and working with federal, state and local agencies to administer vaccines as quickly as possible to Americans.

CVS said nursing homes and assisted living facilities are just the start of its vaccination efforts. COVID-19 vaccines will be administered at its pharmacies when made available to the public in March, at the earliest, based on supply and priorities set for populations by state governments.

Wong said CVS pharmacies will administer the vaccines by appointment made through CVS.com, a CVS Pharmacy app or an 800 phone number. It reportedly was hiring 10,000 pharmacy technicians for its vaccination program and estimated its pharmacies across the country have capacity to administer 20 million to 25 million vaccination doses each month.

"We have made a significant investment in frontline people to administer these vaccinations," Wong said.

In November, the Trump administration released a list of pharmacies that had signed up to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines, when they're available, including Albertsons, Safeway, Costco, Good Neighbor, Vons and Rite Aid. The announcement said the vaccines will be administered at no cost to patients.

___

(c)2020 The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.)

Visit The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.) at www.modbee.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.