(Adds comment from AmerisourceBergen and Walgreens)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (Reuters) – The White House will begin sending coronavirus vaccines directly to pharmacies, along with deliveries to states, increasing the weekly supply of vaccines nationwide to 11.5 million, said a senior advisor on Tuesday.
US President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 response coordinator, Jeff Zients, said the program will launch on February 11 and will make 1 million doses available to 6,500 stores. As the supply grows, the program could expand to as many as 40,000 stores, he said.
Biden said last month that the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine has been a “terrible failure” so far and has promised to increase the speed with which vaccines are given to Americans, with a focus on ensuring equitable access regardless of geography, race or ethnicity. .
In November, the Trump administration announced that it had partnered with 19 drugstore chains and chains across the country – including CVS Health Corp and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc – to start distributing COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they became available.
The federal government will distribute one million doses of vaccine to 6,500 stores next week, said Zients, adding that the amount will grow over time.
That is in addition to the 10.5 million doses the federal government plans to send weekly to states and territories over the next three weeks, he added.
“This will provide more places for people to be vaccinated in their communities,” said Zients, adding that supply restrictions will limit the program in its early days.
The initial locations of pharmacies have been selected to improve access to vaccines in hard-to-reach areas and among socially vulnerable communities, said Zients.
CVS said in a press release that its pharmacies will participate in the program. It will receive 250,000 doses directly from the federal government for its initial launch, CVS said, adding that it has the capacity to deliver 20 million to 25 million doses per month in total.
Walgreens said it will begin vaccinating people on February 12 at some stores in 15 states and jurisdictions, including Illinois, New York and Puerto Rico.
AmerisourceBergen Corp said some of its chain pharmacies in places like Kentucky, Kansas and Guam also plan to order doses through the program when it launches next week.
Zients also said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will reimburse states for some COVID-related costs they have assumed since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States last January, such as personal protective equipment and deployment of the national guard.
He said that Congress does not need to approve funds for FEMA to do so and that total payments to states will be between $ 3 billion and $ 5 billion.
Zients added that the federal government purchased supplies of equipment that healthcare professionals need to obtain six doses of each vial of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine, instead of five.
The Biden government has said it is willing to use emergency powers in times of war, if necessary, to secure specialized low dead space syringes and other supplies needed to eliminate vaccine waste and improve administration efficiency.
The major winter storm that hit the east coast of the United States this week did not interrupt vaccine deliveries, but forced some administration offices to close or shorten opening hours, said Zients. (Reporting by Carl O’Donnell, Susan Heavey and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Bill Berkrot)