Fresenius, DaVita to manage COVID-19 vaccine allocation for all patients with ESKD
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The CDC has authorized Fresenius Medical Care North America and DaVita Inc. to serve as distributors of the COVID-19 vaccine to dialysis clinics across the United States, officials reported last week.
“I am proud that CDC has partnered with dialysis provider organizations across the U.S., including the two largest operators of dialysis clinics nationally, DaVita Inc. and Fresenius Medical Care North America [FMCNA], to support the rapid vaccination of most dialysis patients and health care personnel,” Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, director of the CDC, said in a statement. “CDC is partnering with additional dialysis providers to ensure the widest reach possible with this population across the United States. This is another crucial step to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and to protect populations that have been put at increased risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19.”
Walensky said dialysis providers already have experience with administering vaccinations. “Importantly, this effort will allow people who receive dialysis treatments to receive a COVID-19 vaccine from a trusted, trained and familiar source at a location they already visit several times each week.
“It will also protect the health care personnel who care for this population. To date, only 35% of health care workers in dialysis centers have been vaccinated.”
Dialysis providers told Healio Nephrology they have been meeting with the CDC since December to work out a plan to get vaccine doses and administer them to patients and staff. The CDC is using its Network Administrator Program to ensure vaccines are distributed equally among all providers.
“[DaVita and Fresenius] have extensive reach across the country and have operational, logistical, IT infrastructure and cold chain and pharmaceutical delivery capacity to serve as capable vaccination providers,” the CDC said in announcing the program. “DaVita and Fresenius are registered under a network administrator agreement and will support the delivery of vaccine doses to smaller dialysis organizations and independent providers that join these networks. CDC will monitor distribution of vaccine to help ensure fair access.”
Distribution was expected to begin during the first week of April, with the Pfizer doses going first to Fresenius and DaVita, according to the CDC.
In a recent webinar hosted by the Renal Healthcare Association, Bill Valle, CEO of FMCNA, said he told White House officials there would be “equitable distribution” of the vaccine supply to all facilities.
Valle said DaVita is working with several mid-sized dialysis providers to coordinate delivery of the vaccine, including U.S. Renal Care, Atlantic Dialysis and American Renal Associates.
“In an effort to best serve and ensure the safety of all patients on dialysis, [U.S. Renal Care] partnered with industry providers in advocating for direct access to vaccines from the federal government,” Mary Dittrich, MD, chief medical officer of U.S. Renal Care, said in a statement. “With President Biden’s announcement last Thursday, we are pleased to now be working with both the CDC and DaVita in distributing COVID vaccines to all patients and dialysis provider staff. We expect to begin receiving vaccines for all of our centers beginning the second week of April and will manage the procurement and distribution of vaccines via a centralized operations process.”
References:
- www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/planning/dialysis-partners-jurisdictions.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s0325-vaccines-dialysis-centers.html