Coronavirus Updates 10/22/2021

Dear Patients, Residents and Families,

Boosters, Boosters, Boosters!

We are thrilled to receive word that we can begin providing our nursing home patients and residents with a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Due to age, underlying conditions, or both, nursing home patients and residents are at greater risk of severe illness if they contract COVID-19. We expect this third dose will better protect our patients, residents and employees. We wanted to take a few moments to provide an overview of who is eligible.

1) In accordance with CDC guidelines, any patient or resident who is immunocompromised should receive a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, effective immediately. We are currently in the process of administering these third doses, which require patient, resident or family permission. If you have not yet provided signed consent, please contact us immediately so we can expedite the process.

2) The FDA and CDC now recommend that all nursing home residents should receive a COVID-19 booster if they originally received the Pfizer vaccine more than six months ago. The overwhelming majority of our residents initially received the Pfizer vaccination. Clinics could be scheduled as early as this week for patients and residents to receive their third Pfizer vaccine at the same time as their annual influenza vaccine. It is safe to administer both immunizations at the same time, per CDC guidelines. Note: Signed consent must be provided for both vaccines before we can administer them.

For those patients and residents who received the J&J or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, and who are not immunocompromised, we will only administer the flu shot at this time. It could be several more weeks before we know if other boosters will be approved for additional portions of the population. We will certainly keep you posted as we learn more.

We highly recommend a COVID-19 booster if you or your loved one are eligible. It is the best protection against COVID-19 as the Delta variant continues to spread nationwide. If you have any questions, please reach out to us immediately and we would be happy to discuss further.

As a reminder, you can visit your Center’s web page for daily updates on visitation and vaccination rates at: https://www.genesishcc.com/findlocations.

Resources

Coronavirus timeline

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Previous Updates

• Coronavirus Update 09/29/2021
• Coronavirus Update 08/02/2021
• Coronavirus Update 05/25/2021
• Coronavirus Update 03/19/2021
• Coronavirus Update 02/10/2021
• Coronavirus Update 01/28/2021
• Coronavirus Update 11/24/2020
• Coronavirus Update 10/20/2020
• Coronavirus Update 09/14/2020
• Coronavirus Update 07/27/2020
• Coronavirus Update 06/12/2020
• Coronavirus Update 05/29/2020
• Coronavirus Update 05/13/2020
• Coronavirus Update 05/01/2020
• Coronavirus Update 04/22/2020
• Coronavirus Update 04/08/2020
• Coronavirus update 03/30/2020
• Coronavirus Update 03/25/2020