Today the federal government is starting its rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations to nursing homes and other skilled nursing facilities in Pennsylvania.
"Today starts the federal pharmacy partnership to vaccinate residents and staff of long-term care facilities," said PA Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.
Pennsylvania health leaders stress the effort is being conducted entirely in the control of the federal government in partnership with CVS and Walgreens pharmacies.
Find a list of nursing homes who have received the vaccinations first by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
"The pharmacies will be reporting how many vaccines they have administered. But, we don't know exactly how quickly that information will be available. But, it will be at least 72 after the vaccine administration," said Levine.
This week CVS is set to administer vaccines to 120 facilities. Levine said Walgreens will administer the vaccinations to 6.
"That is how they're working it out with the federal government, so again we have no particular influence in terms of that," said Dr. Levine when she was asked why there was a difference in the numbers.
Levine said the federal government and the pharmacies are also responsible for reaching out to facilities, coordinating dates, organizing bed and employee counts, and coordinating patient consent.
"In the first week the partnerships will be vaccinating residents and staff in skilled nursing facilities, also what we call nursing homes," said Levine. Following the first round of vaccinations to nursing homes, Levine said other facilities will be next in line including "personal care homes, assisted living facilities, residential treatment facilities for adults, and private intermediate care facilities for individuals with developmental disabilities."
Statement from CVS
"Our efforts across Pennsylvania begin today. In total we’ve partnered with more than 2,200 facilities in the state and are prepared to vaccinate nearly 280,000 residents and staff in the coming weeks...Our army of healthcare professionals -- pharmacists, nurses and licensed pharmacy technicians -- are very familiar with this patient population, and they are excited about bringing peace of mind to long-term care facility residents, staff and their loved ones." -Matt Blanchette, Manager, Retail Communications, CVS Pharmacy