COVID-19 vaccination effort begins at Nevada’s nursing homes

COVID-19 vaccination of residents and staff members at nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Nevada were getting underway on Monday.

The federal government has contracted with CVS and Walgreens to give the shots at long-term care facilities across the country, including in the Silver State.

CVS Health plans give the shots to prevent the disease caused by the new coronavirus at more than 40,000 long-term care facilities in the United States, according to the company. This effort will include more than 250 facilities in Nevada and potentially 22,000 patients, spokeswoman Monica Prinzing said in an email.

Prinzing said the company is coordinating with each facility to prioritize who will get vaccinated first, but encourages that residents be inoculated first, followed by staff.

Tobin Zdarko, regional director for CVS, said about 1,100 pharmacies across the country will store the vaccines. Teams will then get the necessary number of doses from each hub location and take them to the long-term care facilities to be administered. Pfizer is providing dry ice to help keep its vaccine at the required ultra-low temperature as teams make the rounds, he said.

He said it is projected to take about three months to administer vaccines in long-term care facilities but added there is not a firm timeline for completion.

No patients will be charged for the vaccine, he said.

Walgreens pharmacy personnel also will give vaccinations this week at about 800 facilities in 12 states, including Nevada. More states and facilities will follow a week later, according to spokeswoman Emily Delnicki.

Residents and staffers at the long-term care facilities are second in line to receive the vaccine under Nevada’s tiered prioritization system. The state’s vaccination effort began a week ago, with front-line health care workers at acute-care hospitals receiving the first shots.

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter. Review-Journal staff reporter Blake Apgar contributed to this report.