U.S. pharmacies find high demand for Covid-19 vaccines ‘outstrips inventory’

Many pharmacies have told CNN that they can receive and administer many more doses than they have.

But he added: “In terms of the capacity of pharmacies, we have not yet optimized that.”

This is because the first phase of the federal retail pharmacy program was launched with 1 million doses of the vaccine allocated to 6,500 pharmacies, including some CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Rite Aid sites.

The program, which began the week of February 8, allocates a limited supply of Covid-19 vaccine to 21 national partner pharmacies and independent pharmacy networks. As the program grows, Rothholz said, pharmacies will play a role in administering doses alongside public health departments, clinics, mobile units and other vaccination sites.

“All together will be able to successfully vaccinate individuals, in accordance with the national plan. It is therefore not an approach that will replace all the others. They all work together to improve access to sites and practitioners where the public is located. comfortable getting the vaccine, ”Rothholz said. “That’s the point.”

A call for more vaccines

“As we expand to larger populations, demand for vaccines has continued to exceed stocks,” Teno said. “We share the nation’s enthusiasm to vaccinate people as quickly as possible, but patience is needed as the vaccine inventory continues to build up in the weeks and months to come and we are able to vaccinate more. of communities. “

Albertsons Companies Inc., an American grocery company headquartered in Boise, Idaho, is using less than 10% of its capacity, according to Albertsons spokesman Andrew Whelan. “We have the capacity to deliver 150,000 doses each day and can take about 90% more supply within our network,” Whelan told CNN.

Hy-Vee, a Midwestern supermarket chain, told CNN it would be beneficial to have more doses of the vaccine to administer to the public.

“The limited vaccine supply has been our biggest challenge,” company spokeswoman Christina Gayman said. “We would love to have everyone who does, but the supply is still limited.”

Meanwhile, Meijer Inc. has administered 66,000 doses since mid-January, up from an additional 30,000 this week, company representative Frank J. Guglielmi told CNN. The majority of the doses were administered in Michigan, where Meijer is both a state and federal vaccine partner.

Guglielmi said: “Regarding support, we just need more vaccines.”

‘This is not our first rodeo’

As of Friday morning, Kroger administered more than 400,000 vaccines in 25 states in eligible populations, as reported by public health officials.

Thanks to the federal retail pharmacy program, Kroger has been allocated 70,000 doses with the anticipation of an additional 30,000 doses next week.

“We rely on the strength of our 22,000 Kroger health associates across the country to bend over and really flex their muscles and muscle memory around the vaccines,” Kroger Chief Medical Officer Dr Marc Watkins told CNN. . “This is not our first rodeo to administer vaccines, and we understand the importance of really meeting the challenge of this pandemic head-on right now and of vaccine distribution.”

For Watkins and many other pharmacy executives, the biggest challenge remains ensuring vaccine supply and equitable access between communities.

“We work with state and local authorities, we also do administration to secure vaccine doses as quickly as possible, then we maintain equitable distribution of the vaccine once we are in phase with the phases, then we we’re making sure we get the shots as quickly as possible, ”Watkins said.

So far, most federal program pharmacies are reporting that their vaccine deliveries in the first week of the deployment have arrived on time and have been put to arms.

“We received 10,200 doses last week and Moderna arrived in 100 dose packs – so 102 of our pharmacies each received 100 doses,” said Jenni Zilka, Senior Vice President of Field Programs and Services at Good Neighbor. Pharmacy. The company is a network of local independent pharmacies.

“In general, they are happy to participate,” Zilka told CNN on Tuesday. “I have examples of someone sending me a picture of them getting the vaccine at 3 p.m., and at 3:30 p.m. they were administering the vaccine and sending me pictures of them administering – so just a lot of excitement. “

Winter bad weather is worrying

Still, there is a potential setback: growing concern that the initial momentum could be slowed due to extreme winter conditions sweeping through parts of the United States.

Rothholz, of the American Pharmacists Association, told CNN on Thursday that he had yet to hear of significant delays in the delivery of doses of the vaccine to pharmacies. But “the key to the success of the program is knowing what you’re going to get and getting it on time,” Rothholz said of the deliveries.

“Pharmacies need to use their appointment-based systems, whether it’s theirs or the ones their local jurisdictions have for patients to get vaccinated,” he said. “You don’t want to disappoint a patient by not getting the vaccine or having to cancel appointments – and so that’s currently part of, if you want to call it ‘challenge’, in the system.”

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN on Wednesday that inclement weather around the United States is expected to cause widespread delays in shipments and deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines in the coming days.

“Transportation partners are working to deliver vaccines where possible, depending on local conditions, but adverse weather conditions are expected to continue to affect shipments out of FedEx facilities in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as UPS facilities in Louisville, Kenya, which serve as vaccine shipping hubs for several states, ”CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund said in a statement.

“DCC and its federal partners are working closely with jurisdictions, as well as with manufacturing and shipping partners, to assess weather conditions and help mitigate potential delivery delays and cancellations.”

Additional vaccine doses en route

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration “would double the supply of our pharmacy program.”

This week, 2 million doses will be sent to pharmacies across the country, she said.

With the increasing availability of vaccines, the program is expected to eventually include more than 40,000 pharmacies nationwide.

Foster, in Ohio, couldn’t find an appointment for her husband at a local pharmacy the same day she got one for herself. She did not find any the next day either.

“Every time I had a minute, I would try all these different websites because they were like, ‘We’re posting appointments as soon as we can,’ and their websites – Kroger, CVS – were overwhelmed and they couldn’t answer, ”Foster said.

It wasn’t in a pharmacy – but in a local county health department.