Vaccinations scheduled to begin at RI nursing homes Monday

PROVIDENCE — The first round of COVID-19 vaccinations are scheduled to begin Monday for the roughly 7,500 residents of Rhode Island nursing homes and the 10,000 staff members who work there.

The immunizations come two weeks after hospital front line workers began receiving their vaccinations, and the process may take three weeks before all nursing home residents and staff have received the first of two doses, officials said Sunday.

The federal government partnered with CVS and Walgreens pharmacies to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in coordination with the state.

More: RI-based CVS to play key role in COVID vaccine rollout

State health officials requested that residents and staff in facilities in the hardest-hit communities receive the first vaccinations.

So, for example, more than half the facilities in Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls will get vaccinated in the first week, Health Department spokesman Joseph Wendelken said on Sunday.

More: Married for 50 years, Greenville couple share another milestone: Surviving COVID together

It’s expected that roughly 1,500 first doses will be administered in five nursing homes on Monday, he said.

By the end of Thursday, New Year’s Eve, residents and staff at 17 of the state’s 80 nursing homes should have received their first dose of the vaccine. (A second shot is required weeks later.)

Scott Fraser, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Healthcare Association, which represents 64 nursing homes in the state, said Sunday “I’m glad we can begin protecting staff and residents. The sooner we can start the more lives we will save.”

Of the 1,704 coronavirus deaths in Rhode Island, 1,193, or 70 % were people living in nursing homes or assisted living centers, state health department data shows.

Two nursing homes that saw early outbreaks and spikes of death in the first months of the pandemic — Berkshire Place Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Providence, and Oak Hill Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, in Pawtucket — will be among the first to hold vaccination clinics Monday, said Fraser.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Vaccinations scheduled to begin at RI nursing homes Monday

___

(c)2020 The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.)

Visit The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) at www.projo.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.