CHICAGO / NEW YORK (Reuters) – Many U.S. pharmacies, including those inside Kroger Co supermarkets and CVS Health Corp’s drugstore chain, say they will not verify identity documents before administering the COVID-19 vaccines, leaving the door open to those who do not meet state guidelines for skipping the line.
Although the United States has distributed more than 30 million doses of vaccines, just over 11 million have been administered until Thursday, a delay that prompted US Secretary of Health Alex Azar to ask states to start vaccinating the vulnerable elderly population and those with certain chronic illnesses health conditions to put more vaccines in the guns.
US retailers face the choice of strictly applying state eligibility rules with on-site identity checks or relying on an honor system that can allow people to ignore these guidelines, but also get more people to be vaccinated.
“State and local guidelines vary in the 40 public health jurisdictions we serve, but in most cases, identification will not be required to receive the vaccine,” said a Kroger spokesman. The largest supermarket chain in the United States has so far administered about 7,800 COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare professionals, home care teams and residents.
Twenty-two states started using age as the main criterion to prioritize vaccinations, with four more set to follow next week. Others are adhering to strict guidelines designed to ensure that scarce supplies of coronavirus vaccines reach health professionals, nursing home residents and first aid first.
Teachers and other “essential workers” should be among the next in line as distribution increases, but who qualifies as an essential worker varies by state.
“We are not planning to ask for identity to receive the COVID-19 vaccination,” said a CVS Health spokesman. “These vaccines will only be by appointment in our stores and patients will have already undergone an eligibility screening when they register for a consultation on our website, through our application or by calling 1-800.
However, the accuracy of the information provided in eligibility tests carried out by some companies is not automatically checked at vaccination sites.
The Walgreens Boots Alliance said it would follow state and local guidelines on how to verify eligibility.
Hy-Vee, which operates supermarkets and pharmacies in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin and other Midwestern states, said it included its own warning on its website that identity may – or may not – be requested before the injection is given. . “So far, we have had no problems,” said a spokeswoman.
Stop & Shop Supermarket, located in the northeastern United States, said it would check identities or payment receipts if instructed to do so by individual states. Publix Super Markets, which operates in Florida and other southeastern states, said people would need to provide “proof of insurance and / or driver’s license or social security card”.
“PUT THEM IN ARMS”
In Washington DC, which relies on the Safeway and Giant Food drugstore chains to administer vaccines, it is unclear who checks the health worker status of people.
A district website that allows healthcare professionals to register for a vaccine informs them that they will be verified using their job identification badge or a letter from the employer during the pharmacy appointment.
But Giant Food said in a statement that it was just checking the photo ID and insurance card of anyone who got an appointment through the district’s website.
A DC health department spokeswoman said the vaccination team would raise the issue with Giant Food. Albertsons Companies Inc, Safeway’s parent, did not respond to requests for comment.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, attributed the lack of local planning and divergent guidance to the chronic underfunding of the United States’ health system, with the ongoing pandemic that further burdens patients. resources.
Schaffner said the solution was to increase the availability of the vaccine and to hire more vaccinators.
“The more vaccines you have, the less you have to worry about prioritizing,” said Schaffner. “We know it won’t be perfect, but who cares, we need to put them in their arms.”
Reporting by Richa Naidu in Chicago, Tina Bellon in New York and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bangalore; Editing by Joe White, Ed Tobin and Bill Berkrot