On December 11, Gov. Abbott announced that the State of Texas will participate in the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program, a federal program to vaccinate residents and staff of long-term care facilities against COVID-19. The program is free of charge to facilities and sends staff and Pfizer vaccines from partnering Walgreens and CVS locations to these facilities to vaccinate residents and staff who volunteer to participate.

Abbott went on to say vaccines will be provided to pharmacies the week of December 21, 2020, and the program will begin December 28, 2020.

Clyde W. Cosper Texas State Veterans Home has 100 residents at the present time; one resident is currently positive. Since the onset of the pandemic, 83 residents of the veterans home have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and 25 fatalities at the facility have been related to COVID-19.

Sixty-two staff members at the veterans home have tested positive, but none were positive as of Friday, December 11, 2020.

The current situation, as well as the pending vaccinations, was detailed in a statement released by Matt Atwood, a spokesperson for Texas General Land Office.

The Texas VLB's primary focus from the onset of this pandemic has been to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 to our residents and staff at our veterans homes. We are certainly grateful for everyone's cooperation and actions that have no doubt saved lives. The countless hours put in by scientists and researchers to achieve such a monumental task of quickly and safely creating an effective vaccine in a matter of months is welcome news to all.

The VLB nursing home operators have registered with CVS to vaccinate residents and staff as soon as the vaccine is available for distribution. CVS will provide a pharmacy team that will bring all supplies required, administer the vaccine, and provide documentation to the patient and facility.  The Governor's Office has indicated under the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care, the initial distribution of vaccines is expected to begin on December 28, 2020. At this time, VLB nursing homes have not been notified as to when our vaccinations will be administered.

It will be up to each individual resident or their personal representative as to whether they opt to receive the vaccine or not. It will be up to the discretion of each staff member as to if they choose to receive the vaccine or not.