NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- The Pfizer COVID vaccine is being distributed to nursing homes across New York state Monday.
The pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens will be responsible for delivering and administering the 80,000 doses, as many nursing homes don’t have the refrigeration to store the vaccines.
ArchCare will be receiving the vaccine across its six nursing homes, and extra staff will be on hand to monitor vaccine recipients for 30 minutes after injection.
The concern now, according to ArchCare CEO Scott LaRue, is ensuring that more staff and residents get vaccinated.
LaRue said that so far two-thirds of residents and just one-third of staffers have agreed to get vaccinated. It’s estimated that the state has a combined 210,000 nursing home residents and staffs that could get the vaccine.
So far, 11 ArchCare employees, including LaRue, got vaccinated Friday morning to encourage more to do it.
Nursing homes in New York were hit hard by the virus, with thousands of residents dying in the first months of the pandemic. According to an Associated Press report from the summer, the state’s official care home death toll was just over 6,600.
At Parker Jewish Institute, one of the first nursing homes to receive the vaccine, CEO Michael Rosenblut was the first to step up and receive the drug.
Rosenblut says he understands how hard the nursing home and long-term car facilities have been hit and is happy to see the vaccine being distributed there first.
“I think this is tremendously awesome that today we're starting with the vaccine process, we believe now there's light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
Staffer Roberta Koscerowski was also one of the first to get the vaccine, saying it will help to give her peace of mind.
“It's just every day you kind of get that over your head – am I gonna get it? Am I gonna get it? And now this kind of eases my conscious and my brain and my anxiety,” she said.
On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state had received 77,000 doses Tuesday and expected more in the coming days.
“Total we've received 87,000 doses,” the governor said at a briefing. “That's about 170,000 doses that we were speaking about from Pfizer. We expect an additional 80,000 in the next few days. That will go for residents at nursing homes and that's part of that 170,000. Pending approval, we could get another 346,000 doses from Moderna.”
Connecticut started vaccinations at its nursing homes on Friday.
New Jersey was also set to start Monday, but it’s now pushed back a week because the state missed a federal deadline to register its more than 650 facilities.