COVID vaccine to be distributed to nursing homes

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) - Since the majority of  COVID deaths are occurring at nursing homes and assisted living facilities, the federal government has determined people there will be in the first group to be offered the vaccine.   





The logistics behind helping some of the most vulnerable are daunting. 





From Watsonville Post-Acute Center to Windsor Vallejo Care Facility, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 affecting those living at skilled nursing homes or assisted living facilities is both sad and staggering.





“40 percent. 40 percent of people that have died of COVID have been at facilities,” Mike Dark said. 





Mike Dark is with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.  





He says reports showing the vaccine is weeks away for those in these vulnerable facilities is encouraging.





However, Dark quickly adds, getting the vaccine into facilities will be no easy matter.  





Krista Barnett Nelson is executive director of Senior Advocacy Services of Sonoma County. She says the logistics, including making sure those at care facilities and staff get not just one but two shots, is complex.  





Nelson says these have been exceptional dark times for those in facilities, isolated away from their loved ones. The fact that vaccinations could be weeks away can't come soon enough. 




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