COVID-19 Vaccines

The COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project (CVEEP) encourages the aging network to submit imput on a short survey to help identify tools, resources, and strategies for protecting older adults against COVID-19. The deadline to complete the survey is Tuesday, June 21, 2022.

CMS is expanding opportunities for people to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in their home to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries who are hard-to-reach can receive the vaccination. Healthcare providers can now receive additional payments for administering vaccines to multiple residents in one home setting or communal setting of a home.

CMS Office of Minority Health is recognizing National Immunization Awareness month by providing immunization and vaccine resources on their website. The site houses shareable information about available, low cost vaccines, Medicare coverage for vaccines, COVID-19 resources, and more.

On March 29th, President Biden announced several actions to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines, including an exciting partnership between ACL and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase vaccine access for people with disabilities and older adults. Read the news release for more information about funding distribution.

BellAge has released new findings from their CV19 CheckUp survey that show risk education can help save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings include that most adults (79%) dangerously underestimate the lethal threat risk that COVID-19 poses to older adults, and when informed of the true magnitude or the lethal threat risks, most of respondents (63%) say they would modify their behaviors to keep older adults and loved ones safe. Download the PDF to read more about their findings.

This brief by Stephen Kaye, Ph.D., published a paper setting out his analysis of mortality risk among recipients of home and community-based services. He finds that HCBS recipients between 45 and 64 years of age appear to be at greater mortality risk than the general community-resident population between 65 and 74 years of age. He concludes that this elevated mortality risk justifies increasing the vaccination priority for HCBS recipients under age 65 to equal that of the

COVID-19 Antibody Testing of Patients with Chronic Conditions is being led by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine. The purpose of the study is to determine the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine as well as COVID-19 antibody levels in patients who receive the vaccine with the following chronic conditions: HIV, an autoimmune condition, cirrhosis, or on home dialysis.

CMS released an update to the COVID-19 Vaccines Toolkit that was released on 10/28/20 and first updated on 11/23/20. This update includes more information on vaccine administration reimbursement and outlines a streamlined review process available to states looking to quickly adjust vaccine administration reimbursement rates in state plans. The toolkit also provides more clarification on managed care network adequacy and the phased distribution and administration approved COVID-19 vaccines.