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The United States started on Monday to administer the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to people in long-term care facilities (LTCF), who have been hit hard by the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.
COVID-19 vaccine distributed at LifeCare Center, the epicenter of local cases last spring Patrick Quinn and Denise Whitaker, KOMO News reporters
COVID-19 vaccine distributed at LifeCare Center, the epicenter of local cases last spring
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Workers and residents at LifeCare Center in Kirkland on Monday began receiving their initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, several months after the long-term care center became the first place in the U.S. to report a death from coronavirus.
Employees at the center received the first doses of the vaccine, which was approved and shipped in near-record time for the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, a testament to how COVID-19 has upended life in the state, the nation and around the world..
Staff at nursing home of coronavirus outbreak receive vaccine 03:27
Kirkland, Washington (CNN)In an instant, nursing director Chelsey Earnest can recall the worst day at work she has ever had. Sometimes it comes back without her trying to remember.
What happened March 4 before the dawn and into the night haunts her.
The sirens seemed to blare endlessly outside the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington. That was the night (we had) like five ambulances in the parking lot, she said.
It was the night she sent patients to the hospital whom she expected would be treated and eventually released. They never came back.