The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, for which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it will give emergency use authorization, has been proved to be effective in reducing or eliminating illness associated with COVID-19.
Bruce R. Troen, MD, professor of
medicine and chief of the
Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, is among the doctors who have advocated for nursing home residents to be among the first to receive the vaccine. However, he believes there still needs to be caution in nursing home settings even after the vaccine has been distributed throughout those facilities. “I think we still have to be very cautious,” Troen says. “My hope is that in two or three months, we’ll have information that will say the spread is reduced (by the vaccine). Until that time, we still have to be very cautious.”