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Some large pharmacies, including Walgreens, began distributing COVID-19 vaccines across the country on Friday as part of President Biden’s retail distribution program. Carlos Cubia, senior vice president and global director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Walgreens Boots Alliance, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss how the company manages distribution, including within minority communities.
Video transcript
MYLES ABROAD: Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging here in the United States, as we see cases decrease, hospitalizations as well. But this pandemic has certainly opened the eyes of many Americans to the inequalities we have seen within the health care system.
Carlos Cubia joins us now to talk more about how American companies are looking at the next phase of processing here in the United States. He is responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion at Walgreens. We’re also joined by Anjalee Khemlani from Yahoo Finance.
Carlos, thank you very much for joining the program today. I’d like to start off by just getting your take on how you at Walgreens think, again, about the challenges that American healthcare equity really faces and think about how we’ve all been through. to this lack. access to vaccines, whether it’s at this stage, testing early, and I think the COVID treatment going on as this situation unfolds.
CARLOS CUBIE: Sure. Well, thanks for inviting me. Glad to be with you here today. When we think of the vaccine itself, we know that there have been health disparities in black and brown communities. And at Walgreens Boots Alliance, we’re committed to making sure we reach underserved and under-represented communities through education, targeting underserved areas with our vaccines.
I mean, we’ve been in the vaccine game for a very long time. We know how to get to these underserved and hard to reach communities. And that’s a commitment we made many years ago, and I think we’re in a good position today to continue to educate and provide the information needed so that people can have access to the vaccine.
BRIAN SOZZI: So Carlos, vaccines are now starting to arrive in some of your stores in 15 states. What protocols do you have in place to make sure the right people get this vaccine?
CARLOS CUBIE: Well, as you know, the first vaccine series that was released was dictated by the CDC, states, and local governments. So we work in partnership with these organizations to make sure that we follow the guidelines that they have established. But as we move into mass distribution, we want to make sure we are equipped to do multiple things, to make sure the vaccine is available everywhere in all the communities that need it.
And I know in some hard-to-reach areas we’ve undertaken strategies to get to mobile clinics, to work with offsite clinics to make sure we get to those underserved areas, to follow the protocol that the CDC has established. and to really go out and make the vaccine available to everyone. So really follow the guidelines and protocol the CDC and state and local governments have set.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Carlos, Anjalee here. There seems to be a twofold technological problem involved. One is the appointments and making them. And then it’s about putting together and capturing that data to make sure that we keep track of the minorities and ethnic groups and different ethnic groups that have access to the vaccine. What is Walgreens doing to help solve the two?
CARLOS CUBIE: Well, again, like I said earlier, we’ve done vaccines and recorded this information and captured this data so that we can share it with the necessary organizations and authorities who – who are – where appropriate. We will therefore continue to follow these guidelines thanks to the technology we have implemented during our registration process. And so it’s not new to us in terms of this information.
I mean, it’s something we’ve been doing for a while. So really, we will continue to follow the protocols that are already in place. And if new procedures are required by the federal government or the CDC, we’ll work quickly with our teams to – to put them in place and follow these guidelines.
JULIE HYMAN: Carlos, it’s Julie here. When you talk about the need to distribute the vaccine in minority communities, that’s also part of that element – and you mentioned education, which is obviously very important. Part of this also concerns the person administering the vaccine.
And I’m not just talking about Walgreens. I mean the real person kicking it off. What percentage of your pharmacists are people of color, people who look like their constituents to whom they go, because that can also be part of the puzzle?
CARLOS CUBIE: Well, I can tell you that we have a very diverse population in terms of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who have been trained to administer the vaccine. And we’re very proud of the fact that our pharmacists represent the communities they serve. To give you that exact number, I’ll probably have to get back to you with that exact number.
But our diverse employee population in our field operation is 49%, so we have 49% diversity. And to a large extent our population of pharmacists matches that, but I can get back to you with that exact number. But we make sure that we represent the community and that we try to target those areas with people who can connect and who are, you know, in these communities.
JULIE HYMAN: Mm-hmm.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: And Carlos …
CARLOS CUBIE: Sorry. Go ahead.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: – looking at the – no worries. And looking at the administration itself, we know that these two vaccines that are currently available have specific requirements for cold temperatures and that J&J will likely be going live in the next few months or so, what do you think of how. Whose vaccine are you going to distribute, especially to those hard-to-reach communities, depending on which vaccine is specifically sent?
CARLOS CUBIE: Well, right now we are equipped for all the different requirements required for each of the respective vaccines. We have shortages of extremely cold temperatures in our stores. For the regular temperatures, I think, of the Moderna vaccine, we have those capabilities.
And like I said in the past we’ve made vaccines, whether it’s flu shot, pneumonia shot, shingles vaccine, we can quickly rotate to meet the arrangements needed to store them. and then transport them to the necessary places where we will administer them. We are therefore convinced that we are able to meet all the criteria set out.
MYLES ABROAD: Alright, Carlos Cubia is the Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Walgreens Boots Alliance. Carlos, I really appreciate that you took the time to talk to us this morning, and I know we’ll talk about it soon.
CARLOS CUBIE: Thank you. Thank you for hosting me.
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