Nursing homes could begin COVID-19 vaccine clinics before holidays

All of Connecticut’s 200 or so nursing homes have signed on to get COVID-19 vaccinations for residents and staff as part of a priority push for vulnerable populations, according to officials with the state Department of Public Health.

Because a federal Food and Drug Administration advisory committee approved the vaccine developed by Pfizer Thursday, the first shots could be in the hands of the state within days.

But health care union leaders and members say they have not been told by state or nursing home officials how the vaccinations will roll out for long-term caregivers, according to Pedro Zayas, communications director for the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 NE, SEIU.

“We don’t know if it’s going to be the employer or the state,” who is coordinating the vaccinations, Zayas said. “One of the concerns is that we don’t know the plan and if the plan is for employers to give the vaccinations, how are they going to hold them accountable? Based on what we’ve seen, there isn’t a lot of holding them accountable.”

The union is the largest in the state representing 6,000 nursing home health care workers at homes throughout Connecticut.

Nursing homes are just this week beginning to hold webinars with CVS and Walgreens on the vaccine rollout at long-term care facilities, said Matthew

Barrett, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, an organization that represents nursing homes.

He said that’s why facility staff have not yet been briefed on the exact plans for vaccine distribution.

“This is not clandestine, it’s because it’s just being learned about now,” he said.

Connecticut officials are also planning to vaccinate staff of long-term care facilities, a move Barrett praised.

However, union members are wary after a punishing spring when nursing home residents died by the hundreds and staff was forced to confront nursing home owners for more personal protective equipment, including masks and gowns, Zayas said.

Many members are still wrestling with inadequate or no health care, long hours with few days off and canceled vacation time due to staffing shortages, he said.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March through Dec. 1, 11,157 nursing home residents have contracted COVID-19 resulting in 3,236 deaths, according to DPH figures.

Nursing home resident deaths account for more than 60 percent of the state’s 5,285 deaths due to COVID-19. During the same period, 1,918 nursing home staff have contracted the disease with three deaths.

But, Zayas said, the only information that union officials and members have received on the vaccines is by watching news conferences with Gov. Ned Lamont.

Since union officials have not been briefed on any plans, the union has no way of knowing what the record keeping practices for the vaccinations will be or if union delegates will be able to monitor vaccination documents at each home, Zayas said.

“We don’t know what can be done to improve the process,” Zayas said. “There are so many moving pieces and we have no information. At this point it would be irresponsible for us to tell union members to take the vaccinations.”

Zayas said there has also been no education component to explain to employees that the vaccines are safe and effective. “Health care workers are happy to take the vaccine but in order to endorse the vaccines they need more information to feel safe,” he said.

CVS could start delivering the vaccine to Genesis nursing homes as soon as Dec. 21, said the company’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Richard Feifer.

The company runs 17 facilities in Connecticut with 2,600 beds. About 75 percent of the beds were full as of the last quarter, company officials said. One of the Genesis homes, Kimberly Hall North in Windsor, was one of the hardest hit with 45 COVID-19 deaths early in the pandemic, according to DPH records.

The vaccinations are “unquestionably” the biggest effort “ever undertaken” and will help prevent further tragedies, especially among the vulnerable nursing home population, Feifer said.