Walgreens Changes Immunization Schedule After Giving Clients An Extra Week Between Doses



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Walgreens will begin scheduling doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine three weeks apart, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), following customer complaints.

The U.S. drugstore chain has so far put the spotlight four weeks apart, one week longer than recommended as the extended schedule has made scheduling appointments faster and easier, reported Monday the New York Times.

Starting at the end of the week, Walgreens’ vaccine planning system will begin to space injections three weeks apart, while maintaining the four week period recommended for Moderna’s own vaccine.

Walgreens chief medical officer Kevin Ban previously said that spacing Moderna and Pfizer vaccines around the same time was “the easiest way to support the process within our capabilities at the time.”

Other large drugstore chains such as CVS and Rite Aid had complied with CDC vaccine spacing guidelines, the Times notes, by spacing out Pfizer doses by about 20 to 23 days.

The journal reports that there is no evidence to suggest that an extra week reduces the effectiveness of the vaccine, and the CDC has said it is normal to space doses up to six weeks apart.

However, CDC spokeswoman Kate Grusich told The Times that Walgreens’ planning decision still confused its customers and attracted the attention of federal health officials.

According to Walgreens, it has administered more than 8 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine so far and plans to deliver between 26 and 34 million doses by the end of August.



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