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The launch of the federal retail pharmacy program last week gives Americans the ability to get vaccinated closer to home, while giving stores the opportunity to increase their profits – as long as appointments and doses are available and websites are working.
The program, established under the Trump administration but not implemented before President Joe Biden took office, delivers doses from vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna directly to pharmacies experienced in nationwide vaccine distribution.
“It was pretty easy to make an appointment, and when we got here it was very well organized,” Ken Hewitt of Middletown, Connecticut told NBC News on Friday after receiving his first shot at CVS. “They checked us in right outside the front door.”
Jim Thompson, a 71-year-old retired manager in Penfield, New York, also praised CVS’s customer service.
“It was well done, very well done,” said Thompson. “Especially for an older man, they took their time, they were patient and very kind.
Employees helped him through the process, he said, including showing him how to scan a QR code to complete a preliminary questionnaire and preparing him for text reminders about his second date. .
The new program has already shipped 1 million new doses to retail pharmacies, in addition to the amount already received from any state allowance. Approximately 6,500 additional stores were added.
CVS, Walgreens and independent pharmacies plan to add more capacity as more and more doses become available. So far, demand far exceeds supply.
Appointments are full in 17 of the 18 states where CVS offers vaccinations, according to its website Thursday.
Walgreens has already administered all of the doses from its first allocation, a spokesperson said Tuesday, and is on track to receive 180,000 doses per week.
While the deployment is largely an opportunity to serve the public during a national health crisis, there is also a financial benefit.
“It drives additional traffic to the store and these people come in and buy other items,” Charles Lindsey, associate professor of marketing at the University of Buffalo School of Management, told NBC News.
Investment bank Jefferies estimated that CVS’s involvement in vaccination efforts alone could bring the company about $ 1 billion in additional gross profits over the next year, CNBC reported on the month. latest.
However, high demand for vaccines and some technical issues on appointment websites mean that some Americans have struggled to book their appointments for a vaccine.
Allison McLean, a remote worker from Grand Island, New York, said she spent an entire day trying to make Walgreens appointments for her in-laws, but couldn’t because no second Dose bracket was available and both should be booked at the same time. .
“I had it on my screen most of the day, but people don’t have that kind of time to sit and wait,” she told NBC News.
Technical problems crippled avid shooting researchers from Colorado to Ohio to Florida and New Jersey. In Cleveland, Walgreens mistakenly canceled appointments for hundreds. In Colorado, some clients were unable to make both appointments at the same time. Some clients who live near the state borders of Massachusetts have found that the CVS website will only allow them to book appointments across national borders, which is not allowed. Retailers said they were working on technical hiccups.
Contacted to comment on the issues, CVS spokesperson Mike DeAngelis said in an email that vaccination appointments, “were filled quickly due to the limited supply we have received” and that others will open “as soon as we receive more vaccines”. Walgreens did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.
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