Pharmacies are about to have their day in the spotlight. Delays in vaccine administration have made clear what pharmacists have long known: Americans rely on their pharmacies for important care.
Operation Warp Speed’s earlier plans anticipated that community pharmacies and most pharmacy chains would not receive the vaccine until March or April, but the first weeks of vaccine administration have shown that the channels federal and state governments counted on to lead the vaccine effort simply cannot do it. Many of the hospitals and public health departments expected to handle the first several months of injections are overwhelmed, understaffed, and exhausted from nearly a year spent battling COVID-19 and a sharp surge in recent months.
So, Operation Warp Speed turned to the nation’s pharmacies. “I don’t think the average American is accustomed to going to their local hospital to get a vaccine,” a senior official told Politico. “What we’re doing is just putting this into what we would call the more standard distribution channel that most Americans are accustomed to, which is the corner pharmacy.”
About 40,000 pharmacies have signed up to participate in the vaccination program and up to 6,000 people could start receiving vaccines by the third week of January. Operation Warp Speed will make recommendations as to which pharmacies or chains should get doses first, but the final decisions will rest with governors and state health departments.
The new plan moves up the partnership with pharmacies by up to 2 months. “It doesn't mean that people aren't going to be able to step up and be ready,” said Mitchel Rothholz, immunization policy lead for the American Pharmacists Association, who expressed confidence that pharmacies could quickly step into the fray and step up the pace of immunizations.
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