Colorado’s long-term care facility administrators are concerned about the alarming number of their staff who are refusing the coronavirus vaccine, reigniting a debate over whether workers can be required to
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Aspen Valley Hospital clinical pharmacist Kelly Atkinson organizes the empty vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the command unit trailer set up next to the vaccination tent in the Benedict Music Tent parking lot in Aspen, Colo., Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. To keep track of the empty vials, the pharmacists labeled them with individual numbers. Before the vaccine is diluted, the unused vial of vaccine looks identical to the vials after the doses have been taken out. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times via AP)
The Aspen Times via The Associated Press
CAROL MCKINLEY
Special to Colorado Politics Jan 18, 2021
Casey s Pond
Sheila Haddox, a resident at Casey s Pond in Steamboat Springs, received the first of two COVID-19 vaccine doses on Monday, Dec. 28, 2020.
As COVID-19 vaccines rolled out for residents in long-term care, almost 300 of Colorado’s facilities were contending with active outbreaks involving more than 9,000 infections.
CVS Health confirmed that much-anticipated efforts to vaccinate an estimated 58,800 long-term care residents got underway Monday, Dec. 28. It’s the next piece in what state officials dub “Phase 1,” a rollout that began on Dec. 14 with the vaccinations of frontline health workers including those at UC Health Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins.
Those who have been vaccinated are not yet protected from the virus that won’t happen until a booster shot is administered. Both of the federally-approved vaccines one from Pfizer-BioNTech, the other from Moderna require a second shot three to four weeks after an initial dose.
Deadly COVID-19 outbreaks in Colorado nursing homes
More than 24,000 cases of COVID-19 are tied to active outbreaks at senior care facilities, according to data from state health officials. Author: Noel Brennan, Zack Newman Published: 8:42 PM EST December 7, 2020 Updated: 5:56 PM EST December 14, 2020
COLORADO, USA COVID-19 is sweeping through Colorado nursing homes and other senior care facilities leading to the deadliest outbreaks in the state since spring.
There are 200 outbreaks tied to senior care facilities, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).
“I think we’re back in this situation where we’ve seen outbreaks increasing in Colorado because people let their guard down on following good, solid public health guidelines, said Doug Farmer, president of the Colorado Health Care Association.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Pharmacy clinical manager Dr. Suzanne May holds a vial of COVID-19 vaccine, at right, which will be diluted with sodium chloride solution, at left, at North Suburban Medical Center in Thornton, Dec. 17, 2020. The vaccine in the vials come ion a concentrated form. May estimates that there are seven doses per vial once diluted.
Colorado’s nursing homes and assisted living facilities, the sites most ravaged by the coronavirus, are anticipating the day residents and workers will receive their vaccines.
It can’t come soon enough, given the vast number of outbreaks and deaths at these facilities.