North Carolina prepares to vaccinate nursing home workers

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina is preparing to vaccinate workers in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities this week.

The state Department of Health and Human Services said last Friday that it plans to receive 61,425 doses of Pfizer’s newly approved vaccine from the federal government next week.

If the Food and Drug Administration follows a key panel’s recommendation to approve Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, North Carolina will get 175,900 doses of it. The state health department said about 96,000 of its allotment from Moderna will go to long-term care facilities.

“We expect shipments to occur over several days as they did in week 1,” the department said, referencing its first batch of about 85,000 Pfizer doses it was scheduled to receive this week.

Under the state’s vaccine distribution plan, hospital workers who are vital to the COVID-19 response or at high risk of exposure to the virus are the first to get inoculated, followed by workers in long-term health care settings, such as nursing homes. Residents in those facilities are next on the priority list.

Residents in long-term care facilities have patiently waited their turn to get the vaccine. They make up 40% of the deaths related to COVID-19 in North Carolina.

Channel 9 learned residents or their power of attorney are currently filling out consent forms to get the vaccine -- which could happen as soon as Monday.

“We are cautiously optimistic that a vaccine will do two things -- protect residents and the staff from the virus and keep people healthy, but also we hope that in turn means at some point visitation can return to a more normal schedule,” long-term care facility advocate Lauren Zingraff said.

The facilities will be selecting either Walgreens or CVS to distribute the vaccine. CVS expects to handle about 900 facilities in North Carolina with Walgreens handling about 900 others.

CVS is preparing to vaccinate more than 127,000 residents and support staff.

“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. We are hiring a lot of nurses to help us out with initiative,” CVS Pharmacy supervisor Marshal Carter said.

Carter said their staff will administer the vaccine on-site at the healthcare facility. He says while most people are monitored 15 to 20 minutes after getting it, these residents will be watched for a longer period of time.

“There will be a lot closer following with them because they do have certain protocols in the facility that will put them on a 24 hour temperate monitoring system. They will make sure to monitor those patients for 24 to 48 hours after the vaccine -- that’s every patient,” he said.

Hope Haven in Charlotte is a therapeutic community for people in early recovery for substance-use disorder.

“They’ve got counseling, job training, vocational training, help getting employment and ultimately finding permanent housing in the community,” said Kristin Blinson, Hope Haven.

The former motel on North Tryon Street is home to about 150 residents and like other congregate-living facilities, COVID-19 spreads easily.

After several positive cases, 23 people were currently under quarantine.

“We went out and knocked on every door and had to tell residents they can’t see their families at Christmas,” Blinson said. “They can’t leave the property. Their families can’t come here.”

Not all long-term care facilities will be vaccinated by CVS and Walgreens.

For some, the task will be up to their local health departments.

Mecklenburg County officials said 233 facilities are not enrolled in the federal program.

Leaders are reaching out to those places to collect essential information for logistics and planning.

They’ll get the vaccine as soon as possible, which largely depends on when and how much Mecklenburg County receives.

Hope Haven is one of the long-term care facilities that Mecklenburg County will have to vaccinate.

“I can’t even tell you I think it will be such a day to celebrate here,” Blinson said.

Until that day comes, Hope Haven officials said they will not let their guard down.

“We will do anything we can to keep this place safe over the next couple of months while we are waiting,” she said.

Pfizer’s vaccine comes with extra logistical hurdles, such as ultracold storing at -94 degrees Fahrenheit (-70 Celsius). Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine require people to receive two shots, with Pfizer spacing out doses by three weeks and Moderna adopting a four-week waiting period between shots.

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

Complicating matters is the coordination between governors, public health officials and the federal government to establish where vials should be shipped. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper this week urged Vice President Mike Pence to offer more advance notice about its weekly vaccine allotment. States have been assured they’ll have more time to plan going forward.

Some states have reported they’ll receive fewer doses than expected for the second week of distribution.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams said earlier this week that the state’s next batch of the Pfizer vaccine would be around 25% to 30% less than expected. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has warned of delays because of production issues.

North Carolina’s public health department did not comment on whether its second wave of doses of the Pfizer vaccine is lighter than expected.

Regardless, the distribution of vaccines comes at a time when it is gravely needed.

North Carolina on Friday reported its highest single-day increase in confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 8,400 positive diagnoses. For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the state reported its 10th consecutive day of a double-digit positivity rate. North Carolina had aimed to get that proportion of tests coming back positive down to 5% before the Thanksgiving holiday.

On Tuesday, the state reported that 3,001 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, an increase of 184 patients from Monday. This also marks the first time more than 3,000 patients have been hospitalized with COVID-19.

More than 466,000 people have tested positive for the virus in North Carolina since the start of the pandemic, which amounts to about 1 in 23 residents. Over 6,100 people have died of COVID-19.

Cox Media Group