Plans developing for US pharmacies to administer up to 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine a month.

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Thu, 2021-02-04 19:36 — mike kraft

US pharmacies could administer up to 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine a month. Here's how Shipments of Covid-19 vaccines will be headed to pharmacies next week under a federal program that aims to get more people vaccinated quickly. Theresa Waldrop and Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN CNN

(CNN) Shipments of Covid-19 vaccines will be headed to pharmacies next week under a federal program that aims to get more people vaccinated quickly.

Twenty-one "national pharmacy partners and networks of independent pharmacies representing over 40,000 pharmacy locations nationwide" are taking part in the program, according to a government fact sheet, which includes a list of all participating pharmacies or networks.

In phase one of the distribution plan, 1 million doses will be sent out to about 6,500 stores including Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Publix pharmacies, and others, starting on February 11. ...

"Based on conservative assumptions, pharmacies have the capacity to meet the demand for 100 million vaccine doses in one month when that level of the vaccine supply is available," Steven Anderson, president and CEO of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, told reporters last month.

Pharmacies are also "readily accessible in most communities, with most Americans living within five miles of a pharmacy," White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said earlier this week.

Here's a look at how the plan will work.

Phase one will include only some pharmacies in certain states

The pharmacies that will have the vaccine are selected by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and states, taking into account "their ability to reach some of the populations most at risk for severe illness from Covid-19, including socially vulnerable communities," according to Zients.

"In the early phase, many pharmacies across the country will not have vaccine, or may have very limited supply," Zients said Tuesday.

CVS and Walgreens will be getting a large share of the first shipment of vaccinations.

Starting Thursday, CVS said it will be offering doses to people eligible in some of its stores in 11 states, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

CVS will have about a quarter of the total initial million doses.

Walgreens said it will begin offering vaccines on February 12 in 15 states, including Chicago and other places in Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, including New York City, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia. ....

Vaccine supply at this stage is the main challenge. There will only be 1 million doses sent to drug stores at first, and it's not clear if or when the allocation to drug stores will be increased.

That will ramp up over time, as more supply becomes available....

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