Moderna’s vaccine highly effective against COVID-19: FDA review
By
John O'Connor
Dec 16, 2020
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective in preventing symptomatic illness, according to information released Tuesday. The initial review’s findings appear to set the table for federal authorization...
Monitor vaccinated residents for signs of Bell’s palsy, feds warn
By
John O'Connor
Dec 16, 2020
Long-term care residents will be among the first people in the nation to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. On Tuesday, Food and Drug Administration staff recommended that they be checked for possible cases...
Managing a bah humbug holiday season
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Dec 15, 2020
By now many of us have viewed the viral video of residents gleefully shooting soft foam balls at laughing staff members dressed as reindeer dodging through a pine-tree “forest.” It’s the kind...
Mass LTC vaccinations start next week, distributors say; a few states start this week, feds say
By
Danielle Brown
Dec 15, 2020
Most nursing homes who opted into the federal COVID-19 vaccine program are likely to receive their first doses starting early next week.
Amid national rollout, many on front lines leery about vaccine
By
John O'Connor
Dec 15, 2020
“I believe this is the weapon that will end the war.” New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made the statement at the first known clinically authorized vaccination Monday morning at the Long Island Jewish...
California’s LA County surprise: Pulls long-term care facilities out of federal vaccine program
By
Danielle Brown
Dec 15, 2020
Public health officials in California’s Los Angeles County have pulled its long-term care facilities out of the federal COVID-19 vaccination program. The aim is to provide the medication to workers and...
LTC worker deaths doubled, 15 nursing home residents died per hour from COVID-19, Senate report finds
By
Danielle Brown
Dec 15, 2020
Two Democratic senators are warning Congress to come together to resolve the COVID-19 crisis in nursing homes after a report found that more than 15 residents died per hour from the disease in November.
First doses of federally approved COVID-19 vaccine en route to nursing homes
By
Danielle Brown
Dec 14, 2020
Nursing home residents and workers may start receiving the first doses of Pfizer-BionNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine as early as today after the vaccine gained key federal approvals over the weekend.
Thanks in part to COVID-19 precautions, flu season is off to mild start, CDC expert says
By
Liza Berger
Dec 14, 2020
There appears to be an indirect upside to all the mask wearing and social distancing: less flu activity in nursing homes and overall.
As a much-anticipated vaccine rolls out, others face obstacles
By
Kimberly Marselas
Dec 13, 2020
Even as the U.S. government authorized Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use late last week, drugmakers around the world acknowledged new challenges in developing other immunizing drugs that...