While appearing at a Healthy Returns Spotlight Event hosted by CNBC on Feb. 9, Rick Gates, Walgreens senior vice president of pharmacy and health care, predicted that practically all locations of the nationwide chain would have access to doses by early spring.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb “I’d say late March, early April will be the timeline that you’ll have it more broadly across all of our stores across the nation of pharmacies and other places to start vaccinations,” he said. And for more on where you can get vaccinated at Walgreens now, check out If You Live in These States, You Can Get Vaccinated at Walgreens This Week. Low supplies of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines has created a bottleneck in the vaccination process in some areas. But Gates pointed out that the likely approval of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which was submitted for an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Feb. 4, will increase the number of doses available. Compared to Moderna’s and Pfizer’s doses, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one shot instead of two, and can be more easily stored with normal refrigeration for much longer than the existing inoculations. “It’s just good news for all of us that there’s going to be more vaccine available,” Gates told CNBC. And for more on what you might expect from the latest immunization, check out These Are the Side Effects of the New Johnson & Johnson Vaccine. After already administering doses to nursing home and long-term care facility residents and staff in December, Walgreens is expanding its efforts as part of a federal program starting Friday, Feb. 12, by beginning to offer vaccinations at some of its stores in 21 states, as well as in New York City and Chicago. Since there is still limited availability of vaccines, Walgreens has said that its pharmacies will not administer vaccinations on a walk-in basis for the time being. If you’re eligible, you can book your vaccination appointment through Walgreens’ online scheduler. And for more regular vaccine updates sent right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. Other well-known retailers have also become hubs for COVID immunizations. Walmart, for example, began offering vaccinations to healthcare workers in Arkansas and New Mexico before expanding the service to the public in five more states in early February. The superstore plans to continue expansion of the service as supplies become available to do so. “As we look to a future when supply can meet demand and more people are eligible to receive the vaccine, we plan to offer the vaccine seven days a week at our pharmacies, through planned in-store vaccination clinics, and through large community events,” Walmart Executive Vice President Cheryl Pegus said in a Jan. 22 statement. “At full capacity, we expect we will be able to deliver 10-13 million doses per month when supply and allocations allow.” And for more on other recognizable names offering shots, check out If You Live in These States, You Can Get a COVID Vaccine at CVS Next Week.
