AUSTIN, Texas — For weeks, government and health leaders have been touting the COVID-19 vaccine as the 'light at the end of the tunnel' that is the coronavirus pandemic.
Starting Monday, Dec. 28, long-term care facilities across Texas will start receiving vaccines for both residents and staff. Seniors have been anxiously waiting to receive the vaccine, so they could see family and friends more often.
Pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens partnered with the federal government earlier this year to deliver and administer many of the vaccines to long-term care facilities that opted into the program.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced earlier this month Texas would take part in the program to make sure people living and working in places like nursing homes and retirement communities are prioritized during vaccine distribution.
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CVS and Walgreens have already distributed thousands of vaccines to long-term care centers in 12 states.
On Monday, Dec. 28, Texas will be one of 36 additional states to start administering vaccines to residents and staff of those facilities. According to CVS, the pharmacy plans to deliver and administer vaccines to 275,000 staff and residents at 2,000 facilities over the next 12 weeks.
Some facilities in Austin, like The Continental Retirement Community, did not have a date scheduled to receive and administer vaccines as of Christmas Eve. Other facilities, like Maravilla at The Domain, plan to start administering vaccines on Monday. Still others are in between: Renaissance-Austin Retirement Community is scheduled for early 2021.
Neither the State, CVS, nor Walgreens have provided a full list of which long-term care facilities will receive vaccines on Monday.
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