Dialysis Clinic to Start Offering COVID-19 Vaccine: Shot

Dialysis clinics are often located in areas where other forms of health care are not adequately provided.And many have already vaccinated their patients Other illnesses.

Bruno Macanti Pescador / Getty Images

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Bruno Macanti Pescador / Getty Images

Dialysis clinics are often located in areas where other forms of health care are not adequately provided.And many have already vaccinated their patients Other illnesses.

Bruno Macanti Pescador / Getty Images

Frankie Shaw had diabetes by the age of 22, had a stroke at the age of 35, and had been on dialysis for the past five years. This can be multiple times a week, or hours a day, days a week, home machine.

For the past year, COVID-19 is now 44 years old, Retail store manager. My friend has passed away. Her twin brother was recently hospitalized with it, and is still dyspnea. That terrifying show that also suffers from hypertension. “Imagine if I was infected with COVID or if there was nothing that could help strengthen and fight off the immune system.”

The show situation is typical of 550,000 people undergoing dialysis in the United States.

Dialysis patients infected with COVID-19 may have multiple other symptoms, including diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure, and can die about 10 to 15 times more than average. This is also a risk factor.

Delaying dialysis treatment is potentially fatal, so many people are at risk of infection because they participate in clinic treatment. On average, it takes hours three times a week at a time.

About half of dialysis patients in the United States black Or Latin, Exacerbated vulnerability to both kidney disease and COVID-19 Due to lack of access to health care.

last week, Biden administration said it would distribute the vaccine It will be sent directly to the dialysis clinic as part of a broader effort to expand vaccination in high-risk areas.

Experts say vaccination at dialysis centers is an elegant solution to many annoying problems.

It is a step that “leads to fairness in health.” Says Joseph Vasarotti, Chief Medical Officer of National Kidney Foundation.

To date, only a handful of states have been vaccinated by dialysis clinics, including the show’s hometown of Louisiana.

She was vaccinated by a regular nurse at a local dialysis center in January.

“If I didn’t get it so quickly and quickly for dialysis, I would probably have been on the waiting list for my age,” says 44-year-old Shaw.

On the other hand, despite belonging to a high priority group Her 64-year-old mother took several months to find a local appointment for the vaccine. “Her family doctor couldn’t get it, she goes to get her medicine at Walgreens; Walgreens didn’t get it,” Shaw said. I will.

Dialysis clinics are often located in areas where other forms of health care are not adequately provided.And many have already vaccinated their patients Other illnesses.

“Our patients rely on us for all their care. They have come to trust us because they have always dealt with all other vaccines such as flu, hepatitis and pneumonia.” say. Bill Valle, CEO of Fresenius Medical Care, which operates a large network of clinics that serve approximately 40% of dialysis patients in the country.

Patients come three times a week, so we have a close relationship with dialysis staff. As such, these clinicians are a powerful force in helping to overcome patient education and vaccination hesitation.

Columbia Nephrology, South Carolina, expects the first federal allocation to arrive this week, says Brent Seeley, president of the network of dialysis centers. He says he has been insisting for months to provide vaccination at a center that serves about 2,000 dialysis patients. 65% of them are black and many live in rural areas.

“It’s really hard to tell them that they’re just vaccinated.” They may not have the internet capabilities to do that, and they may not be able to drive to get it, “Sealy says. Outside the city, it is difficult to find a mass vaccination event or community health center that offers it. “So it makes perfect sense to give it at a dialysis clinic,” he says.

This will make a difference to people like Sandra Davis. She was 76 years old and started dialysis 6 years ago. After a car accident broke my pelvis and legs and I couldn’t move for a while. She is currently on a walker, traveling by bus and undergoing dialysis every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

She says vaccinated people have come to the building where she lives, but “I’m on dialysis when they come. I’m not here so I can’t get it.”

According to Davis, it would make a big difference if you could get it at a clinic that is infected with the flu every year.

“They know everything about me, so I want to have it at the clinic I go to. I don’t have to travel all my business around,” she says.

She says she’s convinced she still has a lot of life left to live if she can just get a shot.