Long-term care facilities across NC to start receiving COVID-19 vaccine

NORTH CAROLINA — The COVID-19 vaccine will start going to long-term care facilities across the state Monday, which is welcome news for many seniors who have been sheltered in place for so long.

Most long-term care facilities will be vaccinated by CVS and Walgreens because of a federal partnership.

But there are about 200 smaller facilities in Mecklenburg County that are not part of the program, including Hope Haven. That means the health department will be in charge of giving out the vaccine.

Hope Haven is a former motel turned therapeutic community for people in early recovery for substance use.

Of the 150 residents, nearly two dozen people are in quarantine, and it has sparked concern that COVID-19 could spread easily at the facility. The timeline for when they will get the vaccine depends on how available it is and the doses are allocated by the state.

Long-term care facilities that are registered will begin receiving the vaccine from CVS and Walgreens Monday.

A pharmacy supervisor told Channel 9 the two companies expect to handle about 1,800 facilities across the state.

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“Our teams will consist of pharmacists, who already do immunizations in the community, technicians who are newly authorized by health and human services to give vaccines, as well as nurses,” Pharmacy Supervisor Marshal Carter said. “We are hiring a lot of nurses to help us out with this initiative.”

Right now, Mecklenburg County is reaching out to smaller facilities, like Hope Haven, to figure out how many doses they will need.

County leaders said they will hand them out as soon as possible.

For many people, the vaccine is the light they have been waiting for at the end of a very dark tunnel.

Spring Neal, the divisional vice president of operations at ALG Senior, said she didn’t know what she was stepping into last March when their first community in Hendersonville had a COVID-19 outbreak.

“In all the years I’ve been doing this, and I’ve been doing this 20 years, I never thought that I would have to put bodies in body bags. I still have nightmares about it,” Neal said.

She said she would have to step away to wipe tears.

Nearly a year later, the crisis continues, but Monday, a new chapter began.

“I don’t want to ever go through that again and I don’t want anybody to have to go through that again. And if this vaccine means we don’t have to ever go through that again, everybody should take it,” Neal said.

She said they have been going around to all their facilities to talk about the vaccine with hopes to get 100% of their staff and residents vaccinated.

“We’ve seen so much death and hardships and what it’s done to our communities, the devastation, so it’s an opportunity to get back to some kind of normalcy,” Neal said.

Everything you need to know about North Carolina’s COVID-19 vaccine plan

Cox Media Group