Long-Term Care Pharmacists Express Concern Over CVS and Walgreens Delivering COVID-19 Vaccine to Nursing Home Patients, National Survey Shows
81 percent have low confidence in the giant chains hired by the government to immunize long-term care facilities NCPA December 16, 2020
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Dec. 16, 2020) A large majority of pharmacists who specialize in long-term care worry that CVS and Walgreens do not understand the nursing home environment and are not prepared to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine without major challenges, a new national survey finds.
“Patient needs in the long-term care environment can be much more nuanced than the general retail environment, and the survey showed concerns about the potential unintended consequences of allowing the big chains to have exclusive responsibility to immunize those patients,”
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The first vaccine to prevent COVID-19 has been cleared for use in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in individuals 16 years old and older. The first shipments began leaving facilities on Sunday.
The FDA’s decision was based on data from its Phase 3 clinical study, whose results were published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine and which saw a 95% vaccine efficacy rate. The two companies continue to gather additional data and prepare a biologics license application for full approval from the FDA in 2021.
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ The leaders of 18 pharmacy organizations today issued the following statement following the Food and Drug Administration s approval of the first Emergency use Authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine. We heartily welcome the decision by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize the emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine, following the recommendation of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). This is a historic moment in the nation s effort to end the pandemic. The pharmacy profession is ready to do its part as qualified, active participants in administering these vaccines in accordance with guidance issued by the FDA, CDC, HHS and state and local health departments, as well as increasing access for the American public to these important disease prevention tools.