People living with home assistance are left behind while nursing home residents get vaccinated

Vulnerable people residing in assisted living facilities are in a high risk situation, as are those in nursing homes. But the COVID-19 vaccine deployment plan does not prioritize this group of people in the first phase of nationwide vaccinations. These older people who are physically independent but often still need medical attention live in the same shared facilities that put nursing home residents at increased risk of contracting the virus.

According to ABC News, assisted living centers – or ALFs – are not regulated by the federal government, so there is no data available on how COVID-19 has affected this group of people.

“The risk of community spread and transmission in an assisted living facility is just as high as in a nursing home,” said Zach Shamberg, president of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association. In Pennsylvania, assisted living residents were not among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, causing a wait of several months before it was their turn. However, last week, Governor Tom Wolf announced an expansion of vaccine distribution in that state, which would include people living in assisted living facilities in Phase 1A.

Shamberg told ABC News that with the current pace of drug delivery in Pennsylvania, many assisted living residents may not receive their second injection until April or May, or even later.

“We are talking about potentially still vaccinating our most vulnerable residents during the summer months,” he said. Experts say assisted living residents fell through the cracks because public health officials believed there was only enough vaccine for those living in nursing homes.

Even in states that have included assisted living residents in their vaccine distribution plan, there have been delays and snafus.

These issues frustrated many facility administrators. Robert Loomis, the administrator of A Country Place, an assisted living facility in the Tampa Bay area, said he was forced to call Walgreens, one of two pharmacies responsible for delivering vaccines to nursing homes nurses across the country, asking the pharmacy to step up the pace.

“My frustration was with the way the decisions were made with the shots,” he told the Tampa Bay Times. “ Weeks went by and we were seeing a massive distribution to the public, but not to us. ”

CVS and Walgreen pharmacies administer drugs in long-term care facilities through the Federal Long-Term Care Pharmaceutical Partnership Program.

Veronica Catoe, CEO of the Florida Assisted Living Association, told The Times that there remains “ frustration and confusion over the initial rollout of vaccinations in ALFs and why these communities have been prioritized behind nursing homes and many people aged 65 and over. populations. ”