Local long-term care facilities expect COVID vaccine soon

This story is updated.

Cape Girardeau's Lutheran Home, 2825 Bloomfield Road, is expecting COVID-19 vaccine doses to arrive by Dec. 28, said Melody Harpur, director of marketing and community development.

The Lutheran Home and Chateau Girardeau -- the other large senior residential care center in Cape Girardeau -- at 3120 Independence St., will use Walgreens as the state-designated vaccinator pharmacy.

A spokesperson for Chateau said its plans are still being finalized.

Moderna

"We are being told to expect the Moderna vaccine," said Harpur, noting that like the Pfizer-produced immunization, Moderna's version has a regimen of two shots.

Harpur cautioned the information about the specific vaccine and the timing of the receipt of doses could change.

"The (Moderna) protocol is a resident receives the first shot and gets the second one 28 days later," she said.

Moderna's vaccine, Harpur said, is being recommended for long-term care because its cold storage requirements are less stringent than is Pfizer's.

According to a briefing document from the Food and Drug Administration, Moderna's vaccine can be stored at temperatures between minus 13 and minus 5 degrees and can last nearly 30 days in a refrigerator.

By contrast, Pfizer's product must be super-cooled and kept at between minus 112 and minus 76 degrees, requiring special freezers usually found in research labs and hospitals. Additionally, Pfizer's version is only medically viable for five days in a refrigerator.

The FDA's Moderna clinical trial had 30,350 participants, while 36,621 were part of Pfizer's.

Pfizer's vaccine is approved for those ages 16 and above with the two-shot regimen protocol given 21 days apart.

Moderna's is expected to be green-lighted for those 18 and over with the vaccine administered 28 days apart.

The FDA found side effects are more likely after the second dose.

In both Pfizer and Moderna vaccine doses, injection site pain is listed as the most common side effect - 84.1% for Pfizer, 91.6% for Moderna.

Other possible side effects, said FDA, are fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain, chills and fever.

The FDA granted emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine Friday while Moderna's version also expects to receive EUA approval by week's end.

Consent

Harpur said vaccination consent forms went out last week to Lutheran Home residents.

Any resident who is alert and oriented may give vaccination consent, but Harpur noted the resident's designated family contact also received a form in case of a loved one's cognitive inability.

The resident may have also chosen someone to act as power of attorney for health care decisions.

Cape Girardeau County's public administrator, Lisa Reitzel, has discretion to oversee the residents unable to give consent if they have no relatives, friends or executors who are legally empowered through a POA to act on their behalf.

This oversight presumably would include granting consent for COVID-19 vaccination.

The Lutheran Home, Harpur said, has nearly 200 people in skilled care (nursing home) and 70 in assisted living.

Additionally, 389 employees of the facility are also slated to receive vaccinations.

"We do expect enough (doses) to cover everyone here," Harpur added.