SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Starting Monday, CVS Pharmacy will begin providing COVID-19 vaccines to staff and residents of long-term care facilities in California.
On December 18, the first shot was given by a CFS employee in a Connecticut nursing home.
“We will put 9,000 vaccinators on the road to give those vaccines across the country,” said Jonathan Roberts, vice president of CVS Health.
Ten days later, the CVS pharmacy begins its 12-week vaccination program at the skilled nursing facilities and assisted living centers in California. The company expects to give the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to approximately 700,000 people in 15,000 facilities across the state.
“Retail pharmacies are the foundation of the approach here, both because we are convenient and because we are everywhere,” said Dr. Troy Brennan, CVS Health’s Chief Medical Officer.
Earlier this month, the federal government awarded Walgreens and CVS contracts to roll out the vaccines because of the pre-existing infrastructure and staff. CVS vaccinators will visit each facility at least three times for boosters and controls within the 12-week rotation.
After this initial phase, CFS executives say they will move to the next tier of priority recipients, including key workers, older Americans, and those with chronic illnesses.
“We are most likely to reach the public, and the public likes that approach,” said Dr. Brennan.
Both pharmacies are already using their websites and apps, where people can make COVID testing appointments. By April, they say a similar page will be set up for the general public to make their vaccine appointments.
“We have a fairly flexible digital front end and we developed it for testing, but it will apply here too,” said Dr. Brennan.
The companies hope their wide reach can help reduce spread by summer.
“I hope that by June or July we will be in a situation where the overall transmission will be reduced enough so that we will be able to [return to] a kind of normal life. “