Addiction treatment centers have suffered greatly under the COVID-19 pandemic at a time when the United States needs more addiction treatment than ever before. 

Now, there’s a vaccine available that’s reducing transmission and making the possibility of getting “back to normal” seem like it could be a reality within the next year or so. 

But when will your addiction treatment center get the vaccine? Specifically, when will staff and residents be able to access their first (and second) doses of the COVID-19 vaccine? 

Read on to learn more about what we know - and what we don’t - about the COVID-19 vaccination program for addiction treatment centers. 

Understanding the Phases of Vaccination at Your Addiction Treatment Center

The Center for Disease Control has released some guidelines regarding who should receive the vaccine first. Ultimately, however, the decision about how to order the line for those waiting for their vaccinations falls to individual states. That means that each state will roll out vaccinations a little differently.

The CDC has outlined 4 general vaccination roll-out phases. They are: 

• Phase 1a - Long term care facility residents and health care personnel

• Phase 1b: People 75 years and older and frontline essential workers

• Phase 1c: People aged 65-74 years, people aged 16-64 with high-risk medical conditions and “other essential workers”

• Phase 1d: Everybody else, except children under 18 (although they may eventually receive vaccines pending further research)

We are currently in Phase 1a of the roll out. 

In most states, addiction treatment center staff will be included somewhere in the Phase 1a distribution plan, but where?

To understand when your staff and patients will receive the vaccine, you need to understand how groups are being used to define Phase 1a. 

Phase 1a has been broken down into several priority “groups” in many states. Each group is listed in order of their priority for the vaccine. 

How Vaccination Groups May Play Out at Your Addiction Treatment Center

It will be up to each state to determine how to organize Phase 1a of the vaccine roll-out.

For example, in Oregon, the groups of Phase 1a have been defined as:

• Group 1: Hospitals; urgent care; skilled nursing and memory care facility health care providers and residents; tribal health programs; emergency medical services providers and other first responders.

• Group 2: Other long-term care facilities and congregate care sites, including health care providers and residents; hospice programs; mobile crisis care and related services; individuals working in a correctional setting; personnel of group homes for children or adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

• Group 3: Outpatient settings serving specific high-risk groups; in home care; day treatment services; non-emergency medical transportation.

• Group 4: Health care personnel working in other outpatient and public health settings.

In Oregon, the Oregon Health Authority has made it clear that staff at “mental health residential, substance use disorders residential, detox and children’s residential programs” will all be included in Phase 1a, Group 2 of the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plan. Critically, Oregon has also stressed that residents at all of the facilities will also be vaccinated during Phase 1a at the Group 2 stage. 

To see how your state is treating addiction treatment center staff and residents check your state’s Health Department website for updates and details. You may need to contact the Health Department directly if there are no answers available for addiction treatment providers specifically on the website.

Here’s A Quick Way to Determine if Your Addiction Treatment Center Will Receive the Vaccine in Phase 1a

One way to predict how your state will treat your addiction treatment center in terms of vaccine priority is to look at how they classify your facility when it comes to PPE distribution. 

Did your addiction treatment center recieve PPE for “essential workers” from the state? 

If so, your facility’s staff was deemed “essential,” which means that your state will be more likely to include your addiction treatment center staff - and, hopefully, residents - in Phase 1a of the vaccine roll-out.

If Your Addiction Treatment Center Serves Minors or Pregnant People, Your COVID-19 Vaccination Journey Will be More Complicated 

While studies for vaccine safety were fast-tracked for the COVID-19 vaccines, study participants only included non-pregnant persons and adults over the age of 18 for ethical reasons. 

As a result, we don’t have any data on vaccine safety for children or pregnant people. 

Studies for children ages 12-17 started in October 2020, with plans for more studies involving even younger children on the way, assuming that the study of kids over 12 goes well. Still, it seems unlikely at this point that we will see a green light for children’s vaccines before the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

As for pregnant people, it will likely be years before we can quantify the risks and benefits of COVID-19 vaccination. 3- and 5-year studies are currently underway to track the outcomes of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant people, their fetuses, and their babies. Pregnant people will not, however, be denied access to vaccines if they choose to get the shots. So far, there is no evidence that the vaccines pose any risk to pregnant people. It will just be difficult for medical providers to advise patients with the limited information they have now.

We’re Here to Help

Whether you are tracking vaccination records, planning vaccination appointments or conducting vaccination audits of your facility, Behave Health can help. Our intuitive, easy-to-use software is designed especially for the addiction treatment community. Get your free trial started today and see why more addiction treatment centers prefer Behave Health.