Homebound seniors in Jasper, Hampton Co. can get COVID-19 vaccines via new SC program

Homebound seniors in Jasper and Hampton counties will soon have better access to COVID-19 vaccines.

State health officials are partnering with Agape Care Group, a Spartanburg-based hospice and palliative care provider, to help bring Moderna doses directly to Phase 1a-eligible people who are homebound in the two rural counties due to health issues, age or other factors.

Live-in caregivers who qualify for shots under Phase 1a can also get inoculated if they stay with the homebound people, officials announced Thursday.

The initiative is being piloted in Jasper and Hampton counties for now, but the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control hopes to expand its new program across the state this spring.

“We hope to learn from this initial rollout,” said Dr. Linda Bell, the state’s top epidemiologist, during a briefing with reporters Friday.

The program’s vaccinations will begin within the next two weeks, according to Tracie LaFroscia, director of marketing for Agape Care Group.

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette in mid-February reported that South Carolina’s health agency offered no service to help bring coronavirus vaccines to elderly homebound residents.

The newspapers profiled Jim Brown, a Beaufort lawyer, who in early February argued that DHEC had to find a way to inoculate homebound S.C. seniors to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

DHEC at the time said it was developing a plan to address the matter and wanted to finalize its strategy before the end of the month.

Those who qualify for the new pilot program can sign up for the service by contacting DHEC. Here’s how:

• Call DHEC’s Vaccine Information Line (866-365-8110), which is staffed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. all week.

• Ask about the Agape Care Group service, and give the DHEC operator your name, date of birth and address.

The operator will then provide your information to the hospice provider, which will call you within a few days to schedule an appointment.

There are roughly 200 homebound people in Jasper County and around 170 in Hampton County, according to DHEC. The two counties were selected for the program due to a “relatively high rate of homebound and hospice patients” in rural areas, the health agency announced Thursday.

Laura Renwick, a DHEC spokesperson, previously said that about 11,000 homebound people live in the state, citing S.C. Department on Aging data.

Here’s how the pilot will work:

Agape Care Group nurses will visit people’s homes to administer shots. Each nurse will then stay 15 minutes to monitor residents for allergic reactions. They’ll return four weeks later to provide the second dose. Moderna’s vaccine uses a two-dose regimen.

The provider as of Friday had received 1,300 first Moderna doses and administered 344 of those shots, accounting for a 26% utilization rate, according to DHEC data.

LaFroscia, of Agape Care Group, in a Friday statement wrote that the provider has been vaccinating its employees throughout February. Some of the doses it has on hand may be used for the DHEC pilot, she wrote.

Nick Davidson, DHEC’s senior deputy for public health, told reporters Friday that the agency isn’t contracting with Agape Care Group for the pilot, but if the program “hopefully” expands to include more providers and other parts of South Carolina, DHEC may consider entering into contracts to ensure the “rapid deployment of vaccine.”

“We offered our services at no charge to vaccinate this vulnerable population in hopes that the pilot will provide DHEC with a proof of concept to scale this program statewide,” LaFroscia wrote.