On March 9, the Walgreens announced that about 5 million COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered by Walgreens across long-term care facilities, in stores and through dedicated clinics. Additionally, the company has completed over 60,000 clinics at long-term care facilities and vaccinated the majority of residents and staff that opted to receive a COVID-19 vaccine from Walgreens.
“We’re now seeing steep declines in new COVID-19 cases and related deaths in nursing homes and assisted living facilities1, demonstrating the remarkable impact these vaccines can have in this pandemic,” said John Standley, president, Walgreens.
“Walgreens is incredibly proud of our more than 40,000 immunizers who ensured the successful administration of vaccinations in these facilities. With their deep experience, as well as increasing vaccine supply, we are making significant strides in accelerating access to COVID-19 vaccines.”
Vaccination in the USA
The U.S. is working to vaccinate a high percentage of its population against COVID-19 as soon as possible to stop the spread of the disease and end the outbreak in the country. The mission becomes even more urgent as coronavirus variants emerge around the world, raising concerns that the virus could evade our efforts to control it, if the spread is not curbed quickly.
Since vaccine distribution began in the U.S. on December 14, more than 92 million doses have been administered, reaching 18.1% of the total U.S. population, according to federal data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. is currently administering over 2.1 million shots a day.
Getting millions of people vaccinated, in order of priority, is a big logistical challenge for states. As a result, there’s often a delay between when states receive their federal shipments of vaccines and when they get all the shots into people’s arms.
The speed of vaccination has improved since December, but there are still millions more doses distributed to states than have been administered to people.
Vaccinations Administered By Walgreens And the Program
Walgreens is receiving approximately 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer this week as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. Over the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added 16 additional states to those Walgreens is supporting as part of the federal program, for a total of 43 states and jurisdictions.
The federal administration in partnership with the CDC recently announced teachers and childcare workers should be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccinations and receive their first shot by the end of March. School staff and childcare workers are now able to schedule their vaccination at Walgreens stores and the company is working with state and local jurisdictions, as well as school districts, to conduct dedicated clinics for school staff and childcare workers.
“Nearly half of all federal vaccine allocation is being distributed to Walgreens stores in Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs) and areas with a high social vulnerability index score, and Walgreens pharmacists make proactive outbound calls to ensure residents in those communities receive vaccination appointments. The company is also partnering with Uber to address vaccine hesitancy and transportation barriers, and expanding off-site clinics and educational programs with community partners in Chicago, Atlanta and New York this week,” – the company writes.
