Vaccinating skilled nursing home residents and staff across Michigan began Monday, Dec. 28, and state officials say it should take about three weeks to administer the first round of vaccine doses.
About 91,000 staff and residents are eligible for this round of the program, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Resources.
“We have allocated 25% of the weekly allocations of vaccine for the next four weeks to support the total number of doses needed to provide vaccinations to the enrolled Skilled Nursing Facilities staff and residence,” MDHHS spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin told MLive.
Vaccinations for staff and residents in other long-term care facilities should begin “in the next couple weeks,” Sutfin said. Those facilities include assisted living, personal care homes, residential care, adult family home, adult foster home, HUD supportive housing for the elderly and veterans’ homes.
Since the start of the pandemic, Michiganders who live in nursing homes have been the group hardest hit by the virus: 3,492 skilled-nursing residents have died of COVID-19, as well as 786 who lived in other senior citizen facilities, 372 residents of group homes for adults with disabilities and 61 employees of long-term care facilities.
In all, residents and staff of long-term care facilities comprise 39% of all Michigan deaths from coronavirus.
“Today is a significant day in the fight against COVID-19,” Melissa Samuel, president of the Health Care Association of Michigan Nursing, which represents operators of long-term care facilities, said in statement Monday. “Facility providers throughout the state are eager to begin the first round of vaccinating residents and staff.
“We are very hopeful this vaccine will not only be a lifesaver for residents and staff, but also expedite the reopening of our facilities to family members and loved ones,” Samuel said. “The availability and distribution of the vaccine is clearly the path forward for facilities.”
Samuel said her organization wants as many staff and residents to be vaccinated as possible. However, the vaccines are not mandated and individual must consent to being immunized.
The vaccinations are being done through a partnership between the federal government and CVS and Walgreens pharmacies.
Each facility in the federal program has been paired with CVS or Walgreens. About 95% of the state’s licensed skilled-nursing facilities -- 417 of 439 -- have enrolled in the federal vaccination program, according the MDHHS.
The pharmacies will bring staff into the nursing homes to set up vaccination clinics for residents and employees, as well as contract workers such as doctors and physical therapists who work with residents.
The program for long-term care facilities is using the Moderna vaccine, and participants will require a second dose three weeks after their first shot.
The pharmacies plan to conduct three on-site clinics at each facility to vaccinate as many residents and staff as possible, according to MDHHS. During the first clinic, the pharmacists will vaccinate all staff and residents on site.
The second clinic will be held 21 days later and the pharmacists will administer the second dose of vaccines and “catch anyone they may have missed on first date with their first dose,” said a MDHHS press release. The third clinic will occur 21 days after the second clinic to provide a second dose to those who need it.
The Moderna vaccine is 95% effective in preventing COVID-19, based on the clinical trials, but that full effectiveness takes about two weeks after the second dose, experts say.
While the vaccine is expected to dramatically reduce the number of cases and deaths from coronavirus, it likely will take months to see that impact, experts say.
“Remember: it will take some time for the vaccine to be widely distributed to everyone,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in the MDHHS press release. “That’s why it’s so important that we all do our part by continuing to properly mask up, practice safe social distancing and avoid indoor gatherings where the virus can easily spread from person to person. We will get through this together.”
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