Unlike the first COVID-19 vaccine rollout last December, most nursing homes won't rely on pharmacy chains to deliver booster shots this fall, Biden administration officials told The Washington Post.
Almost all nursing homes in the U.S. have told the government they're planning to work with long-term care pharmacies instead of retail chains like CVS Health and Walgreens to get booster shots for its residents when they are authorized by the FDA, the Post reported Aug. 27.
The federal government said it will begin offering boosters Sept. 20 pending the agency's approval, and nursing home residents will be among the first people eligible, along with healthcare workers.
But 600 to 700 nursing homes — which is less than 5 percent of the roughly 15,000 nursing homes in the U.S. — have told federal officials they don't have relationships with long-term care pharmacies and will need assistance. The CDC is working with those facilities to connect them to vaccine suppliers, the Post reported.
"We're sort of playing matchmaker. If you have a skilled nursing facility in Indiana who wants some pharmacy chain to come in and help provide vaccines to them … we're making those matches," a federal health official told the Post.
Nursing home residents may also be given incentives to get the shots, such as a coupon for grocery discounts, officials told the Post.
When the COVID-19 vaccine rollout started last December, the U.S. government contracted with pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens to deliver the shots to nursing homes. Some officials complained that the rollout was too slow, and thousands of doses intended for nursing homes went unused.
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