CVS To Begin Vaccinations At DC Long-Term Care Facilities

WASHINGTON, DC — CVS Health, a partner chosen to vaccinate long-term care facility residents, plans to begin administering COVID-19 vaccines at D.C. facilities on Dec. 28.

CVS Pharmacy was selected by many nursing homes and assisted living facilities nationwide to be their vaccine provider. It is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's program offering COVID-19 vaccination services for residents of long-term care facilities. CVS, Walgreens, and Managed Health Care Associates are the partners in the national program.

CVS announced it will administer the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses in facilities within 12 states during the week of Dec. 21: Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Vermont. Vaccinations in 36 more states, including Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, will begin on Dec. 28. Puerto Rico's vaccinations will start on Jan. 4.

"Today’s rollout is the culmination of months of internal planning and demonstrates how the private sector can use its expertise to help solve some of our most critical challenges," said CVS Health President and CEO Larry J. Merlo. "I’m grateful for the herculean efforts of everyone involved, including our health care professionals who will be deployed throughout the country to bring peace of mind to long-term care facility residents, staff, and their loved ones."

The company expects it will vaccinate up to 4 million residents and staff at over 40,000 long-term care facilities during its program. CVS Pharmacy staff will make three visits to each long-term care facility to ensure residents and staff receive their initial shot and booster. Most residents and staff are expected to be fully vaccinated three to four weeks after the first visit, depending on which vaccine they receive. CVS Health expects the long-term care facility vaccination could be completed in approximately 12 weeks.

"What we'll do is send teams in. They'll have full protective equipment...and [vaccinate] all the people who work in the long-term care facilities as well as all the people who consented to have the vaccinations who are patients there," said Dr. Troy Brennan, executive vice president and chief medical officer at CVS Health. "Then we'll go back again and yet again to do the second dose and to make sure we capture anyone else who has come through the system up to that point."

Vaccinations at long-term care facilities will begin after health care workers in D.C. hospital systems began receiving the first COVID-19 vaccines last week. After emergency use authorization was granted to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first shipments went to six District hospitals, with 6,825 doses being dispersed to frontline healthcare workers. Kaiser Permanente has already administered more than 4,500 vaccines.

This week, the federal government's Operation Warp Speed will be delivering 4,875 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 12,600 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the District. However, that program is allocating the District's vaccine based on the city's population and not on its health care workforce, which primarily reside in Maryland and Virginia. For this reason, the District has secured for additional doses of vaccine from the District's two neighboring states. So, D.C. will received approximately 8,775 doses from Virginia and 8,000 Moderna doses from Maryland.

CVS also has an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to eventually provide vaccines to the public in 2021. This will be subject to vaccine availability and prioritization of populations as determined by states. Once those vaccines become available to the public, CVS will offer them by appointment with the capacity to administer 20 million to 25 million shots per month. The company plans to share more details at a later time.

"There isn't an exact date yet because we have to work through those prioritization of front-line health care workers, the elderly as well as critical infrastructure," said Dr. Sree Chaguturu, senior vice president and chief medical officer at CVS Caremark. "The timing of when that program starts will likely be later in the winter or in early spring. As the next few months progress, we'll be able to announce when that program starts in conjunction with Health and Human Services for general population vaccinations."

D.C. Health confirmed 160 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. That's up from the 139 reported on Monday. This brings the District's total number of positive cases to date to 26,900.

D.C. Health also confirmed two new deaths in the District due to COVID-19. The deaths are described as two women, a 64-year-old and a 68-year-old. The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the D.C. now stands at 744.

According to D.C. Health, 840,202 coronavirus tests have been administered in the District, 344,362 residents have been tested, and 19,275 have been cleared from isolation.

The District currently has 54 intensive care unit beds available out of 345 total intensive care unit beds. There are currently 188 in-use ventilators and 252 available. Also, there are 76 COVID-19-positive ICU patients.

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Globally, more than 77.7 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and over 1.7 million people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Tuesday morning. In the United States, more than 18.1 million people have been infected and over 320,000 people have died from COVID-19.

District residents should take the following actions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19:

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. An alcohol-based hand sanitizer can be used if soap and water are not available.
• Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

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