Biden preparing to send COVID-19 vaccines directly to retail pharmacies next month
President Joe Biden’s coronavirus response team is preparing to send vaccines directly to retail pharmacies for the first time as soon as early February, a move that would create new access points for Americans to get immunized against COVID-19.
The exact timing is still uncertain and highly dependent on the nation’s overall vaccine supply.
But two sources familiar with the matter told McClatchy that the president’s new task force is pushing ahead with the plan, eager to expand vaccination availability to more people in more places as the virus continues to spread and new variants emerge.
“This is an integral part of the National Vaccination strategy that the president released a couple of weeks ago and we are working as quickly as we can, and as the supply allows, to execute on it,” one White House official said on condition of anonymity.
The initial shipments to retail pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens are expected to be very limited. One government source said that roughly one million doses would be available to retail pharmacies across the United States, creating another supply chain challenge for a new administration that has made vaccine availability its top priority in Biden’s first 100 days in office.
The trust and familiarity that Americans have with their local pharmacies — where many are accustomed to receiving their flu shots — is a key reason that government officials want to move quickly with this effort.
“The program will be incremental over time — it’ll be nationwide when it first starts, but it’ll only be some retail pharmacies within individual states and will grow along with supplies,” the government source said.
The federal retail pharmacy program, which was first outlined by the Trump administration in October and previewed to governors before Biden took office earlier this month, will be the first time the federal government sends doses directly to local pharmacies.
Up until now, states have received vaccine shipments, and some have chosen to allot a portion of them to retail pharmacy chains.
“Using pharmacies is a good strategy to reach many places although many other providers are also expecting it,” said Dr. Julie Swann, head of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University and an adviser to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during its response to the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. “To reach our whole population, we will need to use many different settings, which can reach people in their community, and through channels they trust.”
The administration is working to expand the nation’s vaccine supply, announcing this week it had purchased an additional 200 million doses.
Biden’s team also hopes to streamline its cooperation with state governors and health officials to maximize the vaccine supply that already exists. The president said on Tuesday that state officials would receive notice three weeks in advance on what vaccine deliveries are coming their way, allowing them to better plan.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 2:00 AM with the headline "Biden preparing to send COVID-19 vaccines directly to retail pharmacies next month."
