PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Walgreens pharmacies will start administering COVID-19 vaccines in select stores nationwide starting Feb. 12, including in North Carolina, as part of a federal push to increase vaccination points as more doses start to become available.
As of February 2, Walgreens doesn’t have plans to start vaccinations in Virginia.
CVS Pharmacy, which also announced vaccination plans Tuesday, is starting on Feb. 11 in Virginia at 28 sites, including several in Hampton Roads.
Walgreens will also start vaccinations in Chicago, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, New York City, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
Both Walgreens and CVS have been in the process of vaccinating long-term care residents and staff across the country, and were set to finish all first doses in Virginia nursing homes as of mid-February. Second shots are also already underway.
“Our pharmacy teams have already provided nearly two million COVID-19 vaccinations and stand ready with their expertise to help educate and vaccinate additional Americans, including those in rural and underserved communities,” said Walgreens President John Standley.
However vaccine doses are still limited, and will be available by appointment only at Walgreens.com/ScheduleVaccine when vaccines become available.
Walgreens did not say how many doses they would get initially in this first push nationwide, but said the CDC selected stores in specific states “to optimize vaccine access in medically underserved areas and areas with a high social vulnerability index score.”
CVS said it would start with 26,000 doses nationwide.
Doses sent to both CVS and Walgreens will not count toward a state’s current allotment from the federal government.
1 million doses total are going to 6,500 pharmacies nationwide via the federal government with a focus on helping minority and other under served communities.
“This will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities,” said federal coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients. “A priority will be to get the vaccine to minority communities that have suffered a disproportionately high toll of disease and deaths from the virus.”
For more on the CVS rollout, click here.