South Carolina’s biggest hospice piloting homebound vaccines

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina’s largest hospice provider is partnering with state health officials to pilot an effort to vaccinate eligible homebound residents against COVID-19. Agape Care and the Department of Health and Environmental Control announced Thursday that they’ll launch the pilot program in Hampton and Jasper counties, largely rural areas at the southern tip of the state. To be eligible, people need to already be in group 1a, the sector of South Carolinians who’ve been able to schedule and get vaccine doses for several weeks, including people age 65 and up. A nurse will visit the person’s home, administer the Moderna vaccine, wait the standard 15 minutes to monitor for allergic reactions, then return 28 days later to administer the second shot.