By LAURA ROMERO and DR. JAY BHATT, ABC News
(NEW YORK) -- As mass inoculation against COVID-19 is underway across the country, advocates for the elderly are pushing to prioritize at-home vaccinations in order to protect the health of older, homebound adults.
"Those who are homebound are just as high-risk for hospitalization and death as any other older adult," said Dr. Steven Landers, the CEO of Visiting Nurse Association Health Group, a New Jersey-based independent provider of home health, hospice and community-based care. "They are visited by families, by health care professionals. They deserve to be protected."
In a letter sent Tuesday to the White House COVID-19 Response Team, a group of advocates including officials with the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), which represents more than 14,000 long-term care facilities, urged the Biden administration to prioritize vulnerable individuals, including the homebound.