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COVID Vaccinations Start At Ohio Nursing Homes Hit Hard By Pandemic

Gov. Mike DeWine congratulates the first nursing home resident who received of the COVID-19 vaccine around 7:30 Friday morning at the Crown Pointe Care Center in north Columbus.
Karen Kasler
Gov. Mike DeWine congratulates the first nursing home resident who received of the COVID-19 vaccine around 7:30 Friday morning at the Crown Pointe Care Center in north Columbus.

The first COVID-19 vaccines for residents and staff at nursing homes and long-term care facilities are being shot into arms around Ohio today - the vaccine administered before sunrise at a nursing home in Columbus.

The first shot, administered to 78-year-old Rebecca Meeker, came so fast Gov. Mike DeWine almost missed it as he stood outside with reporters watching a monitor of a live feed from inside the Crown Pointe Care Center.

DeWine said he’s unsure when vaccinations will be done 350,000 residents and staff in those facilities.

“We certainly would hope to be by the end of January but we really don’t know. We’ll have a lot better idea, frankly, after the first week and see how fast this process is going.”

DeWine said Ohio hasn’t seen or been advised that smaller shipments than promised are coming, which has happened in some states.

But the Ohio Department of Health said in a statement later on Friday:

"Ohio is receiving our first full week of vaccine that was promised by Pfizer. However, the allocation for the second Pfizer shipment was lower than previously estimated by our federal partners.  Previous estimates were about 123,000 doses and the current allocation in the ordering portal is 70,200 doses."

As in other states, nursing homes and long-term care facilities have been hard hit by COVID.

Last week's Ohio nursing home death total: 3,992 deaths since April 15. That's 286 new deaths in a week - the previous week's death total was 212. Add 369 deaths before April 15 and that's 4,361. If they're all confirmed deaths, that's 61% of yesterday's total confirmed deaths.

Contact Karen at 614-578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.
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