The Biden Administration is encountering stiff industry opposition but is forging ahead with plans to announce in coming months major regulatory reforms that advocates hope finally will.
CVS and Walgreens blamed for slow vaccine rollout in nursing homes By Stephen Gandel AARP CEO: Nursing home deaths an unconscionable disaster
CVS on Monday touted its nationwide progress vaccinating residents and workers in long-term care facilities against COVID-19. The drugstore chain announced it has administered its entire batch some 2 million shots of first doses in the nearly 8,000 nursing homes working with CVS.
That milestone is unlikely to allay complaints that CVS and Walgreens, the other major pharmacy chain tapped by the federal government to inoculate vulnerable populations in nursing homes, assisted living centers and other health providers, are falling short. Critics say the vaccine rollout to long-term care residents has been ill-planned and mismanaged, raising the death toll.
CVS & Walgreens Blamed For Slow Vaccine Rollout In Nursing Homes
CVS on Monday touted its nationwide progress vaccinating residents and workers in long-term care facilities against COVID-19. The drugstore chain announced it has administered its entire batch some 2 million shots of first doses in the nearly 8,000 nursing homes working with CVS.
That milestone is unlikely to allay complaints that CVS and Walgreens, the other major pharmacy chain tapped by the federal government to inoculate vulnerable populations in nursing homes, assisted living centers and other health providers, are falling short. Critics say the vaccine rollout to long-term care residents has been ill-planned and mismanaged, raising the death toll.
Mississippi s state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said the partnership has been a fiasco.
The state has committed 90,000 vaccine doses to the effort, but the pharmacies had administered only 5% of those shots as of Thursday, Dobbs said. Pharmacy officials told him they re having trouble finding enough people to staff the program.
Dobbs pointed to neighboring Alabama and Louisiana, which he says are vaccinating long-term care residents at four times the rate of Mississippi. We re getting a lot of angry people because it s going so slowly, and we re unhappy too, he said.
Many of the nursing homes that have successfully vaccinated willing residents and staff members are doing so without federal help.