America’s Pharmacies Can Do a Lot More Vaccinations
They are already driving improvements in the distribution of shots in the U.S. but have a lot more capacity.
Pharmacies are in the right place – everywhere – at the right time to supercharge Covid-19 vaccinations.
Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg
America’s vaccine distribution struggles have finally started to abate, with the average doses administered per day reaching 1.7 million last week. That’s phenomenal news, and it’s driven by many factors, from improved state-level execution to the public’s increasing acceptance of the vaccine itself. But there’s one other change that was likely a big contributor: the Biden Administration started shipping vaccine doses directly to pharmacies.
The pilot began a few weeks ago with about 6,500 pharmacies distributing a million doses per week, ticking up to two million in the next phase. But it can and should be quickly expanded — both in order to continue our recent vaccination success and also to help break any distribution logjams that emerge when additional vaccines are approved.