Biden administration announces vaccines will be sent directly to pharmacies

The Biden administration announced Tuesday that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be sent directly to retail pharmacies across the nation to help improve distribution. 

White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said the government intends to ship about 1 million doses per week to about 6,500 pharmacies. Additionally, vaccine doses will be sent directly to pharmacies from the manufacturers. 

“This will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities, and it’s an important component to delivering vaccines equitably,” said Zients. 

At least one participating pharmacy, CVS Health, plans to begin offering vaccines to eligible people through this new program starting February 11th. The pharmacy chain expects to receive about 250,000 doses that will be distributed to 330 stores across 11 states including California, Texas, Virginia and New York. Another participant, Walgreens, will begin distributing doses as soon as February 12th.