Ohio began administering the coronavirus vaccine in its nursing homes for the first time on Friday as part of a federal program that pairs pharmacies with long-term care facilities.
Both residents and staff received the vaccine, which first arrived in the state earlier this week. Ten different nursing homes received vaccines across the state.
“This is really the day we’ve been waiting for since this pandemic started,” DeWine said during a speech at Pleasantview Care Center in Parma, where vaccines were being administered on Friday. “…One of the saddest stories of this pandemic is the number of people who have died in nursing homes in Ohio and across they, so this is something that weighs very heavily on me, and I know it does on everyone.”
Ohio currently has more than 5,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus among residents of long-term care facilities and more than 3,000 confirmed cases among staff.
We are so grateful to @Walgreens, @CVSHealth, @PharmScriptLLC, and @AbsolutePharmacy for their work to vaccinate Ohio's nursing home residents and caregivers! #InThisTogetherOhio pic.twitter.com/ZVHlrLS4TW
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) December 18, 2020
The state partnered with four different pharmacies — CVS, Walgreens, Pharm Script and Absolute Pharmacy — after it was invited to the accelerated program by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nursing homes in the state were originally slated to begin receiving the vaccine on December 21, DeWine said earlier this week.
The director of nursing for Pleasantview Care Center in Parma is the first to receive the #COVID19 vaccine at her nursing facility today. More staff members and residents are getting vaccinations now. This is a very exciting day! pic.twitter.com/RuHKUPSlNo
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) December 18, 2020
Ohio’s first nursing home resident received a vaccine at Crown Point Care Center in Columbus, according to Dayton Daily News. Roughly 350,000 staff and residents are eligible for vaccination.
“The good news for people in the nursing homes: today, we start,” DeWine said. “Our goal is to vaccinated everyone who wants to be vaccinated who works in a nursing home and everyone who is a resident of a nursing home. So we are very, very excited about that.”
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Jordyn Pair is a reporter with The Ohio Star. Follow her on Twitter at @JordynPair.
