AUSTIN (KXAN) — After getting her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Diana Naylor was thrilled. Then, minutes later, she felt guilty.
"I just kind of felt it was unfair that we should be receiving it, and he was not receiving it," she said.
She was referring to her 94-year-old father, who lives in an assisted living facility in Angleton, Texas. Naylor has been expecting him to get vaccinated for weeks.
"He felt like there was hope," she said. "He started getting excited. We were really excited!"
Families like hers first became hopeful last year when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar floated the possibility of vaccinating every nursing home resident by Christmas. Yet, as Texas enters the sixth week of vaccine distribution, vulnerable residents of some long-term care facilities and their families are realizing it could be at least February before they are fully vaccinated.
The majority of the skilled nursing, assisted living and other types of long-term care facilities in the state are enrolled in the CDC's partnership with CVS and Walgreens to distribute both doses.
CVS and Walgreens promised to distribute the first doses to the skilled nursing facilities by Jan. 25, and both pharmacies released data Monday showing they are on track. Skilled nursing homes generally care for the residents at the highest level of risk.
Meanwhile, the pharmacies have not scheduled vaccine clinics for hundreds of assisted living or other long-term care facilities — still housing some of the oldest and most medically fragile Texans.
Assisted living facilities are regulated by state governments, while a federal agency regulates and distributes resources to skilled nursing facilities. As a result, some advocates claimed the stream of testing and PPE resources throughout the pandemic wasn't as steady for assisted living. They noted efforts to stop the spread of the virus were largely focused on nursing homes, calling on more aid for assisted living.
"Each day feels like... an eternity for him," Naylor said of her father. "He's at the point in his life where he's like, 'I don't know how much longer I have, and I don't want to live it stuck in a room.'"
KXAN Investigator Avery Travis will have more details on the status of the vaccine rollout on KXAN News at 10.
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