DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa will start vaccinating long-term care facility residents Monday with the help of pharmacy staff.
It's all part of the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program, a no-cost federal program to help get nursing home staff and residents vaccinated for COVID-19.
Three pharmacies, CVS, Walgreens and Community Pharmacy, have been tapped in to help with Iowa's nursing home vaccination effort.
"They have hired and identified dedicated staff to go into long-term care facilities throughout the state," Iowa Pharmacy Association CEO Kate Gainer said. "Those pharmacists are working around the clock with facilities to ensure distribution of the vaccine can be timely and efficient. It's not that your pharmacist working in your local community is being pulled out of the pharmacy to go administer the COVID vaccine. I have learned those are separate."
On Dec. 28, a spokesperson for CVS said they'll start their efforts to vaccinate 49,836 people at 486 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Iowa.
Walgreens said they can't provide state-specific information at this time, but will be vaccinating nearly 3 million residents and staff at 35,000 long-term care facilities nationwide.
"In regard to manpower, we continuously look for the right talent on an ongoing basis and are hiring 8,000 - 9,000 pharmacy team member roles to support the full spectrum of pharmacy and COVID testing and vaccine needs," a Walgreens spokesperson said.
A CVS spokesperson said they're hiring 10,000 pharmacy technicians to assist with COVID-related demands, including vaccinations.
"CVS Health is prepared to play a prominent role in administering COVID-19 vaccinations to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, as well as to the general public, once the vaccine is available for general distribution through a partnership with the CDC as one of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Providers," CVS spokesperson Courtney Tavener said.
Hundreds of Iowa pharmacies on standby to start vaccinations
Down the road, Gainer said about 450 Iowa pharmacies will help with mass COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
Leslie Herron, owner of Sumpter Pharmacy in Adel, said she's ready for when vaccines start rolling in.
"We're up and ready to go and anxiously awaiting the vaccine," Herron said. "Of course, nobody knows when we will get it. That's the million-dollar question."
When the vaccine does arrive, expect some heightened safety protocols if you sign up to get it.
"We don't want crowds," Herron said. "We don't want people gathering in the store waiting in lines for vaccines."
To prevent that, Sumpter Pharmacy plans to have people pre-register to get their shots.
Herron said she checks with the state regularly to find out when vaccines might start arriving at her pharmacy.
As of Tuesday, Herron hadn't been given any sort of timeline.