ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Just days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, long-term care facilities in Pinellas County are already preparing to receive thousands of doses.
"This is the next chapter of COVID. It's the new beginning," said Theresa Putnam, the owner of Patrick Manor in St. Petersburg.
Putnam said she’s been working with the health department and the Agency for Health Care Administration to secure vaccines once they are available. Patrick Manor is expected to receive dozens of doses through CVS.
“We have a little guide that they've given us. They've shown us how to set up a place for their nurses or whoever to come in to do the shots,” she said. “I have residents that sit there and talk about it and some of them are like, ‘Okay, we're excited, we're gonna get to do this, right?’”
CVS and Walgreens are initially expected to receive more than 60,000 doses for long-term care facilities. More than 21,000 additional doses are expected to go to these facilities through a special pilot program targeting Pinellas and Broward counties.
Gov. Ron DeSantis promised to prioritize vaccines for long-term care facilities as residents make up a disproportionate amount of COVID-19 deaths.
Doctors call the vaccine news promising but warn that even though studies show them to be more than 90-percent effective, facilities must remain vigilant.
"We still have to be very careful about not bringing the virus into the care facilities," said Dr. Michael Teng of the University of South Florida. "Just because the residents have had been vaccinated and are likely immune doesn't mean that, you know, you can't infect those people who didn't respond well to the vaccine."
Putnam says her facility does and will continue to take extra precautions to keep residents safe. She added that the last nine months of dealing with COVID-19 have proven to be more difficult than the last 30 years of her career in this industry.
"It is truly, probably one of the few times I thought in my career, that it was time for me to go, [that] it was time for me to sell my business then and leave," she said. "But I think I got my strength back now, and we're going forward.
"So, I'm praying that this vaccine is the answer for everyone."
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