Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to residents of nursing homes across Ohio on Friday – a few days sooner than originally expected.
The plan over the next few weeks is to introduce the Pfizer vaccine to long-term care facilities and the Moderna vaccine, which has been recommended for emergency authorization by a Food and Drug Administration panel, to healthcare workers.
“We’re not picking one nursing home over another,” DeWine said. “It’s a question of how they schedule it and there’s a lot of logistics involved in regard to that.”
Four companies will handle the scheduling of the vaccinations: Walgreens, CVS, Pharmascript and Absolute Pharmacy.
DeWine said during his Thursday news conference some folks in nursing homes may be hesitant about getting the vaccine, but along with Ohio’s Health Director, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, he’s hoping to arm people with facts.
“These vaccines were designed with safety in mind,” Vanderhoff said. “Designed to be safe and effective vaccines. In fact, these were under development as potential replacements for our current flu vaccines before we ever knew about COVID.”
This big step in modern medicine could afford people an opportunity to see their loved ones again sooner than originally thought.
“The design of these vaccines gives me and most of my medical colleagues a great deal of comfort,” Vanderhoff said. “I think you see that in doctors and nurses who are lining up to get these shots.
