Community COVID-19 Vaccine Update
The Glebe’s community has been challenged for more than nine months as COVID-19 has spread across the nation, state and region. But, today is a day to share more optimistic information regarding the vaccine and the proposed distribution plan for The Glebe’s residents and team members.
The COVID-19 vaccine is close to being released and the team has been busy preparing. In October, each LifeSpire of Virginia community registered to participate in the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care program. This is a federal program that includes the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnering with CVS and Walgreens to offer onsite COVID-19 vaccination services for all residents and team members of senior living communities. This program provides end-to-end management of the COVID-19 vaccination process, including cold chain storage management with onsite vaccinations, and fulfillment of reporting requirements to ensure safe vaccination of all residents and team members. CVS, along with The Glebe’s clinical leadership team, will manage the vaccination process and provide specially trained individuals to administer the vaccine.
Virginia is now preparing to receive an estimated total of 480,000 doses of the vaccine from two manufacturers—Pfizer and Moderna—by the end of December 2020. If Virginia receives this expected allotment, health care personnel and long-term care facility residents will receive a first dose of the vaccine, thereby beginning the inoculation process for nearly all members of Virginia’s two top-priority groups.
Based on a recent vaccine priority announcement, “The vaccine will be provided to Virginians in a way that is fair, ethical and transparent,” said Virginia State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver, M.D., M.A. “We will focus initially on the groups that have been most at risk for severe illness from COVID-19 infections and those whose work puts them at greatest risk of contracting COVID-19 infections. Over time, as more vaccine supply becomes available, more Virginians will be able to get vaccinated, and we can look forward to a time when this pandemic will end.”
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ voted to formally recommend health care professionals and long-term care facility residents as top priorities for vaccination. Health care personnel who directly care for COVID-19 patients will receive top priority among health care providers. Subsequent weekly shipments are expected to begin after the initial 480,000 shipment and will be divided among health care professionals and long-term care facility residents.
The Glebe leadership team has had the initial meeting with our local CVS/Omnicare Pharmacy to identify the number of vaccines needed during roll-out. The number of vaccines that were noted on The Glebe’s initial request included all levels of care. While we cannot say for certain that independent living will get the requested vaccines, The Glebe’s team will continue to work closely with our distributer to advocate for vaccination of every Glebe resident during the initial phase. As of today, however, we do not have an official arrival and vaccination date.
As of November 15, approximately 500,000 COVID-19 cases and 70,000 associated deaths had been reported among residents of skilled nursing facilities in the U.S. The Glebe team’s focus continues to be preventing the spread of this virus into our community. The Glebe management team very much appreciates your cooperation and understanding over the past nine months of this pandemic. If you have any questions and/or concerns, please reach out to a member of management at the community.
Please check our COVID-19 communications hub for up to date communications. Questions may be submitted via email at [email protected] or 540-591-2104.