9,000-plus long-term care amenities choose into CVS, Walgreens vaccine deal

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9,000-plus long-term care amenities choose into CVS, Walgreens vaccine deal

A resident in a wheelchair at an assisted residing facility in Boston, MA on September 02, 2020. houses.Craig F. Walker | Boston Globe | Getty Phot


A resident in a wheelchair at an assisted residing facility in Boston, MA on September 02, 2020. houses.

Craig F. Walker | Boston Globe | Getty Photographs

1000’s of long-term care and assisted residing amenities have already opted into the Trump administration’s program with CVS Well being and Walgreens to manage coronavirus vaccines to seniors, a senior administration official stated Friday.

Final week, the Division of Well being and Human Companies introduced that it had struck a cope with the 2 pharmacy chains to manage vaccines to the aged at long-term care and assisted residing amenities freed from cost. This system is non-obligatory, officers stated, and amenities started deciding on which pharmacy they most popular on Monday.

HHS estimates there are about 15,000 long-term care amenities in addition to a further 35,000 assisted residing amenities in the US. Between 9,000 and 10,000 amenities have opted into this system because it was introduced final week, Paul Mango, a deputy chief of workers at HHS, advised reporters on Friday.

“We are going to stand by and see what else occurs, however a really strong early response to that providing,” he stated.

The information comes as states have lower than two weeks to arrange vaccine distribution facilities throughout the nation to fulfill the Nov. 1 deadline set by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention — a monumental enterprise made much more tough by the truth that a vaccine hasn’t been cleared by the Meals and Drug Administration.

On Thursday, an FDA advisory group met to debate the requirements wanted to make sure a Covid-19 vaccine is protected and efficient. On the assembly, FDA officers promised that any vaccine would bear rigorous testing earlier than being distributed to the general public.

As soon as a vaccine is authorized, it’s going to seemingly be launched in levels, with the aged and health-care employees getting it first. Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies Administrator Seema Verma stated final week that the CVS-Walgreens deal will be sure that nursing houses, which have been hit exhausting by the virus, “are on the entrance of the road for the COVID vaccine and can deliver their grueling trial to a detailed as swiftly as attainable.”

Mango stated final week that the federal authorities was in contact with different pharmacies moreover CVS and Walgreens however stated that they may not “ship on these capabilities and our executional necessities.”

“These two gamers have been doing this for some time,” he stated. “They’ve demonstrated the flexibility from an IT perspective, from a coaching and personnel perspective, from an asset perspective.”

On Friday, Mango additionally stated he’s “optimistic” that the administration will resolve any points round the price of a coronavirus vaccine. The administration has pledged to offer a vaccine free of charge to each American who wants it.

He additionally touted progress in vaccine trials backed by the U.S., together with Moderna, which introduced Thursday that it had accomplished enrollment for its part three trial.



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