Nearly 40 supermarkets in Massachusetts are partnering with the state to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to their pharmacies starting next week.
Wegmans is one of the many supermarkets that participate in the effort to implant the new vaccine. The supermarket chain will also work with authorities in New York and Pennsylvania to administer vaccines.
The state will also partner with supermarket chains Big Y, Price Chopper, Stop & Shop and Hannaford to provide approximately vaccination locations starting on Monday, according to the Baker administration.
The increase in vaccination sites comes after the discovery of nearly 2,000 spoiled doses of the coronavirus vaccine at the Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center in Boston, after the refrigerator in which they were stored was accidentally turned off.
The Boston population responded to the loss of nearly 2,000 COVID-19 vaccines at the VA Medical Center in Jamaica Plain.
This is happening as more and more states say they are running out of vaccines. Many also claim that they did not have an adequate number of doses to begin with.
Anna Nagurney, professor of operations management at UMass Amherst, who specializes in supply chains, called the loss of 1,900 doses of vaccine at VA facilities “unforgivable.”
The Biden administration sets a new goal for vaccine distribution as states face shortages and new strains of the COVID-19 virus emerge.
“You can’t allow that to happen,” said Nagurney. “We need better security, we need better quality control, it cannot be a matter of someone turning off the refrigerators, this is absolutely ridiculous.”
Replacement doses are on the way and there should be no interruption to Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center’s vaccination efforts, according to VA officials.