What is already known about this topic? Residents and staff members in long-term care facilities, particularly skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), are at increased risk for COVID-19–associated morbidity and Mortality and have been prioritized for the first phase of vaccination in the United States

What is added by this report? Among 11,460 SNFs with at least one vaccination clinic conducted during the first month of the CDC Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program, a median of 77.8% of residents and 37.5% of staff members received ≥1 vaccine dose through the program.

What are the implications for public health practice? Barriers to SNF staff member vaccination need to be overcome with continued development and implementation of focused communication and outreach strategies to improve vaccination coverage.

Residents and staff members of long-term care facilities (LTCFs), because they live and work in congregate settings, are at increased risk for infection with SARS-CoV-2, the Virus that causes coronaVirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (1,2). In particular, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), LTCFs that provide skilled nursing care and rehabilitation services for persons with complex medical needs, have been documented settings of COVID-19 outbreaks (3). In addition, residents of LTCFs might be at increased risk for severe outcomes because of their advanced age or the presence of underlying chronic medical conditions (4). As a result, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that residents and staff members of LTCFs be offered vaccination in the initial COVID-19 vaccine allocation phase (Phase 1a) in the United States (5). In December 2020, CDC launched the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program* to facilitate on-site vaccination of residents and staff members at enrolled LTCFs. To evaluate early receipt of vaccine during the first month of the program, the number of eligible residents and staff members in enrolled SNFs was estimated using resident census data from the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN†) and staffing data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Payroll-Based Journal.§ Among 11,460 SNFs with at least one vaccination clinic during the first month of the program (December 18, 2020–January 17, 2021), an estimated median of 77.8% of residents (interquartile range [IQR] = 61.3%– 93.1%) and a median of 37.5% (IQR = 23.2%– 56.8%) of staff members per facility received ≥1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine through the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program. The program achieved moderately high coverage among residents; however, continued development and implementation of focused communication and outreach strategies are needed to improve vaccination coverage among staff members in SNFs and other long-term care settings.

The Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program is a public-private partnership among CDC, CVS Pharmacy (https://www.cvs.comexternal icon), Managed Health Care Associates, Inc. (https://www.mhainc.com/homeexternal icon), and Walgreens (https://www.walgreens.comexternal icon) to provide on-site COVID-19 vaccination of residents and staff members at enrolled LTCFs in 54 jurisdictions (49 states, four cities, and one territory).¶ These organizations report facility-level aggregate vaccine administration data to CDC through a web-based data platform. For this Analysis, COVID-19 vaccine administration data were restricted to those from enrolled SNFs with a unique, valid CMS Certification Number (CCN) that had a vaccination clinic conducted on site during the first month of the program (December 18, 2020–January 17, 2021). The number of residents eligible for vaccination was estimated using the mean of NHSN weekly resident census counts for each facility during the weeks of December 14, 2020–January 17, 2021. Resident census data were available for 11,376 facilities; 60 (0.5%) facilities with missing data were excluded from analyses of resident vaccination, as were 24 (0.2%) facilities where the CCN was linked to NHSN reporting from multiple sites. The number of staff members eligible for vaccination was estimated using CMS Payroll-Based Journal counts of unique staff members for each facility during July–September (Quarter 3) 2020. Payroll data were available for 11,134 facilities; 326 (2.8%) facilities with missing data were excluded from analyses of staff member vaccination.

Suggested citation for this article: Gharpure R, Guo A, Bishnoi CK, et al. Early COVID-19 First-Dose Vaccination Coverage Among Residents and Staff Members of Skilled Nursing Facilities Participating in the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program — United States, December 2020–January 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 1 February 2021

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