WASHINGTON >> The Biden administration will begin shipping COVID-19 vaccines to US pharmacies next week, ramping up vaccinations as new and potentially more serious strains of viruses emerge, the White House said today.
Coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said that approximately 6,500 pharmacies across the country will receive a total of 1 million doses of vaccine. The number of participating pharmacies is expected to increase as drug manufacturers increase production, allowing for more doses to be allocated.
Drugstores have become a mainstay for flu shots and shingles vaccines, and the industry is capable of vaccinating tens of millions of people every month.
“This will provide more locations where people in their communities can be vaccinated,” Zients said, underlining that initial availability will be limited due to supply constraints. A priority will be to send the vaccine to minority communities suffering a disproportionately high toll of illness and deaths from the virus, he said.
The drugstore partnership was originally announced by the Trump administration in November last year. At that time, no vaccines against the coronavirus had yet been approved. The pharmacy program is operated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and includes major retail outlets such as CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Rite Aid, and Costco, as well as supermarket pharmacies
Zients also announced an increase in the doses the government is sending to states, territories and some major metropolitan areas. These now total 10.5 million doses across all jurisdictions, up from 10 million announced last week.
The 1 million doses sent to pharmacies are in addition to the 10.5 million doses allocated to states by the week.
The White House also took steps to help states pay for their pandemic response. Zients said the federal government will make $ 3 billion to $ 5 billion available to states to retroactively cover certain costs eligible for reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. These can range from protective clothing for health workers to deploying their National Guard to setting up community food programs. State expenditures from last January are now eligible for reimbursement.
But Zients said states need a lot more financial assistance from Washington, noting that Biden’s US bailout legislation is asking $ 350 billion for states. The counter offer brought up by a group of Republican senators over the weekend omits that item.
When fully deployed, the pharmacy partnership will employ about 40,000 drug stores nationwide, Zients said, or about six times as many locations as participated in the initial launch. Some local jurisdictions have begun to offer vaccinations at drug stores, but most places have not. Signs on the front doors of pharmacies say no vaccine is available yet.
The two currently approved vaccines, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, require special cold storage. But chains like CVS and Walgreens, which are already participating in a program to vaccinate nursing home residents, have gained experience with the special handling requirements.
Soon, the Food and Drug Administration will consider approving a Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a one-time regimen that requires only standard refrigeration.
The whole world is in a race with the virus to vaccinate as many people as possible. Alarming mutations have been identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. The British variant spreads more easily and has a higher chance of a fatal disease. The South African variant can slightly reduce the effectiveness of vaccines. All three mutations have been identified in the US.
The vaccine is free for Americans, thanks to legislation passed by Congress. To date, the government has distributed nearly 50 million doses, of which about 32 million have been administered, or more than 60%. That’s a clear improvement from a few weeks ago.
Even with the massive snowstorm that hit the Northeast, Zients said that “all vaccines are available to the states on schedule.” But he acknowledged that some vaccination centers had to close temporarily due to the weather.