Widespread Covid vaccines will become available in the spring, Walgreens director says

Covid vaccines are still hard to come by, but that should change by spring, said Rick Gates, Walgreens senior vice president of pharmacy and health care.

“I would say the end of March, early April will be the timeline that you can start vaccinations at all our stores across the country from pharmacies and other places,” he said at CNBC’s Healthy Returns virtual event Tuesday. .

Walgreens is part of a federal pharmacy program that will ship doses direct to drugstores this week. The pharmacy chain plans to begin vaccinations Friday in some of its stores in 15 states, along with Chicago and New York City. However, all of those pharmacies will be in a limited supply and vaccines will only be available to Americans who qualify as high priority based on factors such as their age or medical condition.

On Tuesday, the Biden government said it would also start shipping vaccines to community health centers next week – as part of its strategy to reach communities of colored people and low-income families who may not have a nearby supermarket or drugstore or have other barriers to it. access, such as lack of transportation.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 43.2 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been delivered across the country as of Tuesday morning. Only 9.8 million people have received two doses of the injection. Both vaccines that are currently licensed for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration – Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines – require two doses.

Gates said he is hopeful that a vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson could boost supply. The pharmaceutical company filed an emergency permit from the FDA last week after releasing data showing that the vaccine was about 66% effective at protecting against the virus. It is a single vaccine and can be stored in the refrigerator for months.

“It’s just good news for all of us that more vaccines will be available,” he said.