CVS, Walgreens tapped to get COVID vaccine to seniors

The Trump administration unveiled a plan for CVS Health and Walgreens to get coronavirus vaccines to nursing home residents free of cost.

No vaccine has yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and the distribution program is contingent on that happening first.

Under the plan, trained staff from CVS and Walgreens will deliver the vaccines to each nursing home and administer shots. Assisted-living facilities and residential group homes can also participate in the voluntary program. Nursing home staffers can be vaccinated too.

Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities account for less than 1% of the U.S. population, but they account for about 40% of the deaths from COVID-19, with more than 83,600 fatalities logged by the COVID Tracking Project.