Walmart said Friday that it is expanding the number of states where it will offer COVID-19 vaccinations through its in-store pharmacies.
Select Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs will offer vaccines starting this week and next week in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, New Jersey, Indiana, Maryland and South Carolina. This expansion also includes Chicago and Puerto Rico. Walmart has so far offered vaccines in New Mexico and Arkansas. All efforts will follow each state’s guidelines, the retailer said.
Walmart said it has built a new digital scheduling tool for making appointments and trained thousands of pharmacists and technicians to administer the vaccines.
At full capacity, it expects to be able to deliver up to 10 million to 13 million doses a month when supply and allocations allow.
Its efforts will be initially focused in “health care deserts,” mostly rural areas where there are few options for residents. The retailer said it has 4,000 stores located in areas designated by the government as “medically underserved” with limited pharmacy options.
Another focus will be to work at community events with third-party locations such as churches, stadiums and youth centers, Walmart said.
“We appreciate the conversations we have had with both administrations and the ongoing conversations we are having with the new Biden administration,” Dr. Cheryl Pegus, executive vice president for health and wellness at Walmart, said in a blog post Friday.
Walmart says 150 million people pass through its doors each week, putting it in a “unique position to reach people where they already shop.”
Retail pharmacies have been administering vaccines since the late 1990s and say they should be part of the COVID-19 program because consumers have looked to them in the past for shots.
Walgreens said Friday that it has administered more than 1 million COVID-19 vaccines at long-term care facilities and expects to complete first doses in nursing homes by Monday. Some Walgreen stores also are offering vaccines to people who are eligible, but it said that “initial supply is extremely limited.” Its vaccines are only available by appointments to people eligible in this phase of the vaccine rollout, which in most states is people over 65 or with preexisting conditions.
It’s not clear when any retail pharmacies will be able to provide vaccinations on a walk-in basis. The process will probably remain by-appointment only.
COVID-19 vaccines will be available at all CVS Pharmacies as soon as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allows it, the retailer said. “The minute that program is turned on, we’ll be ready to go,” a CVS spokeswoman said in an email Thursday.
Only a small number of CVS stores in Indiana, New York and Massachusetts are administering vaccines now. The company remains in discussions with additional states to make a limited number of doses available in the coming weeks in advance of the broader rollout, said Monica Prinzing, a CVS spokeswoman. CVS said it has the capacity to administer 20 million to 25 million shots per month.
CVS is in the same program with Walgreens to provide vaccinations at long-term care facilities in Texas and other states. That’s expected to be completed in March.
Twitter: @MariaHalkias
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