February 3, 2021 – The federal government announced it will send one million vaccine doses to about 6,500 retail pharmacies on Feb. 11, marking the start of a federal program that will deliver vaccines directly to as many as 40,000 drugstores and grocery stores.
The massive vaccination campaign is intended to gradually shift the vaccine drive which so far has been centered in healthcare facilities and massive sites like stadiums to smaller, more local settings that will play a crucial role in vaccinating the general public.
While some states in recent weeks have begun using a limited number of retail pharmacies to give out some of their vaccine doses, the federal program launching next week will not cut into the doses allocated to states — and over time, it will greatly expand the number of sites where eligible people can get vaccines, according to the New York Times.
However, the program will launch slowly at first — many pharmacies will not have vaccines at all or will have very limited supply, — and it will not expand the still limited number of high-risk groups that states have deemed to be eligible to receive vaccines. Eligible patients should check pharmacy websites for availability.
The federal government would allocate vaccines under the pharmacy program based on the population of each state and jurisdiction, as it has been doing for vaccines distributed via other channels.
The CDC is also working with states to choose pharmacies in areas that are “harder to reach” and close to people at higher risk of severe Covid-19, said Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator. He added that the agency would monitor the program to make sure pharmacies are distributing doses efficiently and fairly.