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With a vulnerable population, centralized care, and a strong system in place for other shots, dialysis providers argue that they should be part of the early rollout with higher prioritization for their patients.
"I have talked to dialysis providers large and small across the country, and it is a unanimous opinion that we would like to be able to vaccinate our patients, in our facilities, by our staff," said Jeffrey Silberzweig, MD, co-chair of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) COVID-19 Response Team.
End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are among the most vulnerable populations for poor outcomes of COVID-19. They had the highest rate of COVID-19 hospitalization among all Medicare beneficiaries -- four-fold that of other age-matched seniors; their COVID-19 mortality rate was 25-fold that of other Medicare beneficiaries the same age.