COVID booster shots coming to SC nursing homes, assisted living facilities. What to know

South Carolina nursing homes and assisted living facilities will work with local vaccine providers to ensure residents receive COVID-19 booster shots, state health officials said.

The state’s long-term care facilities, whose residents were prioritized for vaccinations last year due to their increased vulnerability to the virus, have been matched with vaccine providers that can administer shots, as necessary, state Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Ron Aiken said.

Many facilities already have long-standing relationships with pharmacies to administer flu shots and other immunizations, but any long-term care home that lacked a vaccine provider was matched with one by the first week of June, he said.

Those relationships will be crucial in the coming months as long-term care residents come due for COVID-19 booster shots, which the Biden Administration recommends all Americans get eight months after their second doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, starting Sept. 20.

People with weakened immune systems, who account for a significant portion of breakthrough cases resulting in hospitalization or death, already are recommended for boosters, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Proof of immunocompromised status is not required to receive a booster shot.

DHEC is tracking the number of people who have gotten COVID-19 boosters statewide, but could not immediately provide that data.

Extended care homes will work with their designated vaccine providers on how booster shots are administered at each facility. Aiken said DHEC expects long-term care homes will provide boosters to residents on an ongoing basis for the foreseeable future.

South Carolina, like many states, partnered with CVS and Walgreens earlier this year to inoculate residents and staff at nursing homes, assisted living facilities and centers for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Despite prioritizing those vaccinations and setting aside the entirety of its initial allotment of Moderna shots for use at long-term care facilities, uptake was only modest.

CVS and Walgreens ultimately needed only about half the 200,000 doses they’d been allocated to vaccinate long-term care residents and staff.

Since the program’s completion, DHEC has helped facilities obtain access to COVID-19 vaccines when additional shots are requested.

But interest in inoculations has not been as high in South Carolina as in many other states, both at long-term care homes and across the general population.

The state has some of the lowest vaccination rates among nursing home residents and staff in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

As of Aug. 15, 80.7% of South Carolina nursing home residents and 53.9% of nursing home staff were fully vaccinated, according to CMS data.

Nationally, 83.1% of nursing home residents and 61.1% of employees have completed their vaccinations.

The federal government does not actively track vaccination rates at assisted living facilities.

This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.

Zak Koeske

The State

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Zak Koeske is a projects reporter for The State. He previously covered state government and politics for the paper. Before joining The State, Zak covered education, government and policing issues in the Chicago area. He’s also written for publications in his native Pittsburgh and the New York/New Jersey area.