LAUSR

Objectives In December 2020, CDC launched the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program to facilitate COVID-19 vaccination of residents and staff in long-term care facilities (LTCFs), including assisted living (AL) and other residential care (RC) communities. We aimed to assess vaccine uptake in these communities and identify characteristics that might impact uptake. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting and Participants AL/RC communities in the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program that had ≥ 1 on-site vaccination clinic during December 18, 2020 – April 21, 2021. Methods We estimated uptake by using the cumulative number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered and normalizing by the number of AL/RC community beds. We estimated the percentage of residents vaccinated in three states using AL census counts. We linked community vaccine administration data with county-level social vulnerability index (SVI) measures to calculate median vaccine uptake by SVI tertile. Results In AL communities, a median of 67 residents (IQR: 48–90) and 32 staff members (IQR: 15–60) per 100 beds received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the first on-site clinic; in RC, a median of 8 residents (IQR: 5–10) and 5 staff members (IQR: 2–12) per 10 beds received a first dose. Among three states with available AL resident census data, median resident first-dose uptake at the first clinic was 93% (IQR: 85–108) in Connecticut, 85% in Georgia (IQR: 70–102), and 78% (IQR: 56–91) in Tennessee. Among both residents and staff, cumulative first-dose vaccine uptake increased with increasing social vulnerability related to housing type and transportation. Conclusions and Implications COVID-19 vaccination of residents and staff in LTCFs is a public health priority. On-site clinics may help to increase vaccine uptake, particularly when transportation may be a barrier. Ensuring steady access to COVID-19 vaccine in LTCFs following the conclusion of the Pharmacy Partnership is critical to maintaining high vaccination coverage among residents and staff.