Last week, as coveted vaccine vacancies were snapped up in an hour at CVS stores in 20 states, the vacancies remained open all day at CVS pharmacies in Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana.
The dozens of schedules available in the three southern states were in stark contrast to availability in states like Delaware, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, where appointments usually ended mid-morning or earlier. CVS and other retailers typically publish available times around 7 am for the next day.
In many counties across the three states – especially in rural areas – retailers and outpatient clinics are among the few places that offer covid-19 injections. CVS and other major pharmacies, including Walgreens and Walmart, are among the largest suppliers of vaccines.
South Carolina health officials said they noticed that demand was decreasing in some vaccination sites – and, as a result, reduced the age eligibility for vaccines from 65 to 55 as of Monday.
“Reports here and there from across the state, not from everywhere, indicate that vaccine appointments weren’t filled, so it was time to do that,” said Nick Davidson, senior public health deputy in the Department of Health and Control Of South Carolina.
Marvella Ford, a professor in the department of public health sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, was not surprised by the vacancies.
“We know that we have work to do to involve the community and publicize the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine,” she said. Many in the state’s large black community are skeptical about the vaccine, she said, and many poor rural residents face obstacles, including a lack of transportation to vaccination sites and a lack of Internet access to schedule appointments.
“There are many barriers,” added Ford, “and we want to light them up so that we can find a way to overcome them.”
Ford is the leader of a group of black professors who, along with a group of Hispanic professors in medical school, have been meeting with community organizations across the state to ask black and Hispanic residents to be vaccinated.
Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama health officer, assigned CVS vacancies to the drugstore chain, having recently added several stores offering the vaccine. “I don’t believe there is a problem with acceptance, but we will continue to monitor that,” he said.
As of 4:00 pm on Friday, all 33 Louisiana CVS stores offering vaccines had dozens of appointments open on Saturdays for coveted vaccines.
Two-thirds of the 80 participating CVS stores in South Carolina opened. About half of the 56 CVS stores in Alabama that administer vaccines were still available.
CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis was unable to explain why the three states had more supply than demand. “We are aware that the demand for vaccine appointments at our pharmacies is higher in some states than in others,” he said. “We are working on several fronts to raise awareness about the availability, safety and efficacy of the vaccine.”
CVS is one of several large national pharmacies that offer envious injections. But it is the only retailer that makes it easier for people to go online and search by state for open days for several appointments. At Walgreens and Walmart, users can search for photos by postal code only.
As a result, consumers in states where vaccines remain extremely limited can easily see where CVS consultations remain in large quantities. While some states have enacted residency requirements to prevent out-of-state visitors from receiving vaccines, other states, such as South Carolina, have not.
Lior Rennert, a biostatistician at the School of Public Health at Clemson University who worked on vaccine launches in South Carolina, said he was surprised to learn of the openings, as the state is ranked in the top ten nationally in number of vaccines distributed , measured as a percentage of the population. However, he said, politically conservative states like those in the Deep South face more challenges to overcome vaccine hesitation than more liberal states.
He expects open positions to be filled as the state expands eligibility.
“If there are still too many openings in the next few weeks or two, it could indicate a lack of communication about availability at CVS sites or that there is simply not such a huge demand due to the vaccine’s hesitation,” said Rennert.