Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The statewide effort to vaccinate inside nursing homes across New York is underway.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state's 85,000 nursing home residents began receiving vaccinations Monday morning under a federally run program. It could take six weeks to vaccinate residents as well as many as 130,000 nursing home staffers, he said. Pharmacy workers who will administer the vaccines will also receive vaccinations themselves.
"The COVID-19 virus is the greatest public health threat our country has faced in most of our lifetimes, and our nursing home and assisted living residents and dedicated health care workers are on the front line of this pandemic," said Stephen Hanse, President & CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association and the New York State Center for Assisted Living.
Hanse said assisted living residents and staff are next on New York vaccination priority list and will begin receiving COVID-19 vaccinations in early 2021.
In Western New York, at the Greenfields, the vaccines will arrive soon.
"We got a call from Walgreens on Friday saying they'd be there next Wednesday, December 30th, to do their first clinic," says Chris Koenig. Koenig says he is surprised by the size of the team coming. "It's quite an extensive team coming to campus. Multiple people from Walgreens will have staff to support them, with hundreds of vaccines and get to work," says Koenig, who notes The Greenfields' job is to keep things moving.
Koenig says the process began with consent forms being signed by family members of residents, which he says went very well. As for the time frame, "Residents will be prioritized first. Then with whatever time and doses are left, we'll start the with the staff. The second round will be January 20th and the third round at a later date," notes Koenig.
Koenig says about 400 doses will arrive next week. Assisted living residents will get doses at a later date.
Chuck Hayes at Elderwood says no time frame is in place, just yet. "We are expecting to hear from our pharmacy partners with regard to specific dates and times for vaccine clinics at our senior care facility," says Hayes. Pharmacy partners Walgreens and CVS will coordinate with senior care centers to set up dates.
Hayes is encouraging both residents and staff to get the vaccination.
At the McGuire Group, COVID vaccinations are expected to begin at the Northgate facility in North Tonawanda Tuesday with the rest of their facilities to follow next week. The vaccinations at McGuire facilities will be administered by Walgreen;s pharmacists, is voluntary and requires consent.
Cuomo said the state expects to receive another 630,000 doses by this week from Moderna and Pfizer. He said New York will add EMTs, coroners, medical examiners, funeral home workers and other group home workers to its priority list.
The number of new virus infections has begun to flatten in New York over the past week, according to the latest state Department of Health data.
The state averaged 10,400 new infections each day over the past seven days, up about 3% from a week ago and up 12% from two weeks ago.
Nearly 202,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in New York so far in December.
Hospitals statewide were treating about 6,340 COVID-19 patients as of Sunday, which is up 38% from two weeks ago, Cuomo said.
