
CVS pharmacies will begin offering on-site vaccinations in 11 states in February, Dr. David Fairchild, associate chief medical officer at CVS Health said Monday.
CVS partnered with the federal government to vaccinate residents and staff in long-term care facilities. It announced Monday that it completed first-round doses in all participating facilities. Fairchild said CVS will soon begin vaccinating other eligible people.
In an interview hosted by the American College of Physicians and Annals of Internal Medicine, Fairchild said CVS will begin dispensing vaccinations at 272 retail locations across 11 states in February.
“We're definitely prepared and want to play a large role in helping to get the vaccine out there,” he added. “Our internal goal is to have a capacity to perform 25 million shots a month or more.”
Fairchild said locations are distributed across the country geographically and across the social vulnerability index.
“We worked with an outside organization to help identify where our stores fell in terms of this vulnerability index, and our stores are pretty much distributed evenly across that index, so that's a good thing in terms of assuring equity,” he noted.
Fairchild noted that vaccine eligibility varies by states, and the CVS digital screening tool will account for that.
“We can schedule first doses, and we also have the ability to have people come in just for their second dose if they got their first dose somewhere else,” he said. “And of course, the vaccinations are done in a way that's no cost to them even if they do not have insurance.”