CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Lancaster County nursing home residents to get COVID-19 vaccine

Intelligencer Journal - 12/29/2020

Starting Monday, the next vulnerable group to receive the COVID-19 vaccine will be those in Pennsylvania’s long-term care facilities, with residents and staff at Landis Homes in Lancaster County among the first expected to roll up their sleeves.

CVS and Walgreens are spearheading the inoculations in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is unclear how many doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will be available to long-term care facilities, which includes nursing homes.

Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said in a press conference Wednesday that 25% of the Pfizer vaccine has been reserved for this vulnerable population, which accounts for roughly 8% of state’s COVID-19 cases, but represent 56% of the fatalities.

Representatives of CVS and Walgreens referred questions to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which referred LNP | LancasterOnline to the CDC, which referred the newspaper to “local public health authorities.”

Lancaster County Health Advisor Edwin Hurston said he has not been informed about where and how many doses are coming to the county and referred questions to the state health department.

U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on the Trump Administration Monday to make public information on the distribution and administration of the vaccine to residents and workers in long-term care facilities.

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, the senators described “troubling reports” of delays, discarded vaccines delivered at the wrong temperature and allocations not meeting forecasts.

“While the Trump Administration has suggested that every nursing home resident could be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Christmas, it is evident that many residents and workers may end up waiting weeks or months to receive a vaccine,” the senators wrote.

They urged the Trump administration to require CVS and Walgreens make the data public.

Beth Trout, a spokeswoman for Landis Communities, an affiliate of Landis Homes in Lititz, said CVS contacted the facility about administering the vaccine Monday.

To date, Pennsylvania has received a combined 325,725 vaccine doses; 127,725 from Pfizer and 198,000 from Moderna, according to the state Health Department.

Health care workers, residents in congregate settings and seniors have been prioritized in the vaccine rollout.

Pennsylvania has roughly 80,000 nursing home residents and 900,000 health care workers.

Since the first vaccines were administered on Dec. 14, more than 41,400 health care workers across Pennsylvania have been inoculated, according to state data.

It’s unclear how many health care workers in Lancaster County have been vaccinated.

UPMC Lititz inoculated 975 and 1,950 were vaccinated at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital, according to hospital officials.

WellSpan Health – which operates eight hospitals in six counties, including WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital in Ephrata Borough – received 6,825 doses, Ryan Coyle, a company spokesman, said in an email.

------------

Today's Top Stories

Crédito: NICOLE C. BRAMBILA | Staff Writer

Nationwide News