Walgreens will begin scheduling Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine doses three weeks apart, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), after customer complaints.
The United States pharmacy chain has so far defined vaccines four weeks apart, one week longer than recommended, because extended scheduling has made it quick and simple to schedule appointments, The New York Times reported on Monday.
Starting at the end of the week, Walgreens’ vaccine scheduling system will begin spacing vaccines three weeks apart, while maintaining the recommended four-week period for Moderna’s own vaccine.
Walgreens medical director Kevin Ban previously said that spacing the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines in the same period was “the easiest way to tackle the process based on our capabilities at the time.”
Other major drugstore chains, such as CVS and Rite Aid, have complied with the CDC’s guidance on vaccine spacing, notes the Times, spacing out Pfizer doses by about 20 to 23 days.
The newspaper reports that there is no evidence to suggest that an extra week will reduce the vaccine’s effectiveness, and the CDC said there is no problem with spacing doses by up to six weeks.
However, CDC spokeswoman Kate Grusich told the Times that Walgreens’ scheduling decision still confused its customers and caught the attention of federal health officials.
According to Walgreens, she has administered more than 8 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine so far and expects to administer between 26 and 34 million doses by the end of August.