SANDUSKY, Ohio — The Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky is among the first in the state of Ohio to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The COVID-19 vaccine is seen as a ray of hope or light at the end of the tunnel for many staff and residents especially because nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been hit hard by the coronavirus.
The COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to patients through CVS Health.
Staff and residents do need to sign a consent form before they get the shot.
Ten nursing homes across the state, including this one, are among the first in the nation to receive the vaccine as part of a federal program to vaccinate nursing home residents and staff.
"There has been a lot of smiles and just a big uptick in happiness, like we could return to a sense of normalcy in the future, " said Terry Prince, the Superintendent of Ohio Veterans Homes.
During his stop at the veterans home, Governor Mike DeWine (R) said he believes the Moderna vaccines will begin arriving on Monday.
"70 percent of what comes in from Moderna will go directly to hospitals all over the state of Ohio," he said.
The other 30% will be allocated to the more than 100 local health departments across the state that will handle vaccinating EMS workers.
The governor added that the state will begin putting up a dashboard Saturday to track how many people have been vaccinated for the first and second shot. The tracker will be broken down by county and race.
Vaccinations of veterans started at 10 a.m. in Sandusky, and the Ohio Veterans Home in Georgetown also started vaccines on Friday. Nursing homes initially were to start vaccinations on Dec. 21 but were able to start ahead of schedule.
DeWine also visited nursing homes in Columbus and Parma on Friday.
They will receive the vaccines through Walgreens, CVS, PharmScript and Absolute Pharmacy.
Many other nursing homes across northwest Ohio are expected to get the vaccine beginning next week.
The 427-bed Ohio Veterans Home, which opened in 1888, is one of the largest nursing care facilities in the country.