Kroger Health, a health division of Kroger Co., said it will supply coronavirus vaccines nationwide through pharmacies and clinics.
© Albert Cesare / The Enquirer
Stephen Trapp, a pharmacist at CVS Health, prepares a Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for a Community First Solutions therapist in Hamilton, Ohio., On Monday, December 21, 2020. Danielle Webb, vice president of marketing and community relations at Community First Solutions, said they had vaccinated around 40 Community First employees and 27 residents by Monday. Webb said he hopes to vaccinate 150 residents and 365 employees across his three locations.
The Cincinnati-based national supermarket chain will hire nearly 1,000 people for jobs that include pharmacy technicians and other positions to support the operations and administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a company press release.
Kroger did not specify when the COVID-19 vaccines could be made available, pointing to partnerships with federal and state health departments “to administer the vaccine according to the distribution plan,” according to the statement.
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Ohio split its initial supply of vaccine between healthcare professionals and nursing home residents, according to a December 22 Enquirer article.
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Kroger Health has more than 2,200 pharmacies and 220 clinics in 35 states, according to the statement. Kroger Health employs about 22,000 health professionals, including pharmacists, nurses, nutritionists and technicians, according to the statement.
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“The size and scale of our healthcare operation provides us with the unique ability to efficiently facilitate COVID-19 testing and immunize a large portion of the US population, once authorized vaccines become more widely available,” said Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health at launch.
Lindholtz said Kroger has provided patients, staff and other companies with diagnostic testing tools and support resources since the start of the public health crisis.
Kroger Health has worked closely in recent months with federal departments of Health and Human Services and Defense, pharmaceutical companies and other companies to prepare for vaccine authorization, according to the statement.
Priority populations, as defined by the federal and state governments, will be targeted first, now that the Food and Drug Administration has approved Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, according to the statement.
In Alaska, Kroger Health is starting this week to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Anchorage and Juneau to healthcare professionals in partnership with the state, according to the statement.
Kroger continues to advocate that key workers, including Kroger associates, have priority access to the vaccine, according to the statement.
“We are strongly encouraging all customers and associates to receive the vaccine to contain the spread of COVID-19 in our communities and will do everything we can to ensure that they have access as soon as it is available,” said Dr. Marc Watkins, MD Kroger Health’s chief on release.
This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: COVID-19: Kroger reveals agreement to provide coronavirus vaccine in 35 states
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