Published Thu Jan 28 2021 00:52:14 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Elmwood is the type of place you might expect people would be lining up to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. But the nursing home’s operators say that only one-in-four of Elmwood’s staff has taken the shot. by Lynn Arditi
A Walgreens pharmacist had just thawed a new vial of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Elmwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Providence, when she realized she had run out of people to vaccinate.
The Pfizer-BioNTec vial had four doses leftover. If the doses weren’t used within six hours, they would expire. So on this mid-January afternoon, the nursing home’s administrator, Josh Segal, put a call out over the intercom.
EXPLAINER: Why Rhode Island, the smallest state, has a big virus challenge
A passenger gets swabbed for COVID-19 at a testing site at the convention center in Providence, R.I, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. For a few days in December, the nation s smallest state of Rhode Island was one of the worst places on the planet when it came to new cases of COVID-19 per capita. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
In this Dec. 9, 2020, file photo, a health care worker carries a COVID-19 specimen from a motorist at a drive-thru testing site outside McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I. For a few days in December, the nation s smallest state of Rhode Island was one of the worst places on the planet when it came to new cases of COVID-19 per capita. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
EXPLAINER: Why the smallest state has a big virus challenge
By Staff | Jan 6, 2021
FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2020, file photo, a health care worker carries a COVID-19 specimen from a motorist at a drive-thru testing site outside McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I. For a few days in December, the nation s smallest state of Rhode Island was one of the worst places on the planet when it came to new cases of COVID-19 per capita. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) For a few days in December, Rhode Island was one of the worst places on the planet when it came to new cases of COVID-19 per capita.