Buffalo, N.Y. (AP/WBEN) — As the Biden administration navigates the national rollout of the COVID vaccine, local governments and local pharmacies are often struggling with a lack of detail in the plan and left wondering how much vaccine they'll receive, and when they'll receive it.
The Biden white house Tuesday announced that it is moving to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines, freeing up more doses for states and beginning to distribute them to retail pharmacies next week. The push comes amid new urgency to speed vaccinations to prevent the spread of potentially more serious strains of the virus that has killed more than 445,000 Americans.
Starting next week, 1 million doses will be distributed to some 6,500 pharmacies across the country, the White House said. The administration is also boosting by 500,000 the weekly allocation of vaccines sent directly to states and territories for the coming weeks, up to 10.5 million. It is allowing state and local governments to receive additional federal dollars to cover previously incurred expenses relating to the pandemic.
The number of participating pharmacies and the allocation of vaccines are expected to accelerate as drug makers increase production. The White House said the ultimate goal was to distribute the vaccines through more than 40,000 pharmacies nationwide. State and local guidelines will determine who is eligible to get a shot at their neighborhood pharmacy. Availability will be limited at first.
"Getting it into pharmacies is a viable approach," said Dan Mendelson, founder of the health care industry consulting firm Avalere Health. "The pharmacies know how to move people in and out."
Part of the reason the vaccination campaign got off to a slow start, he added, is that states lacked their own infrastructure for mass vaccinations.
The partnership with drugstores was originally announced by the Trump administration in November. At that time, no coronavirus vaccines had been approved. Participating are major chains like CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid, big box stores such as Walmart and Costco, and supermarket pharmacies. CVS said it will receive 250,000 doses initially, to be distributed to pharmacies in 11 states.
The 1 million doses being shipped to pharmacies will be on top of the increased allotments to states over the coming three weeks. The Biden administration has sought to increase certainty to state governments on their upcoming allocations to streamline deliveries and prevent stockpiling of second doses for the two-dose regimens.
However, Brad Arthur of Black Rock Pharmacy isn't thrilled about these kinds of major announcements being made before details and logistics are released to the actual pharmacies, saying that causes more confusion and frustration for customers.
"As far as clarity beyond (the announcement), they didn't give any specifics whatsoever as far as who, where, how that was going to take place and what it was going to look like," said Arthur. "I don't know if it's going to come on horseback - I don't know it's going to come - they didn't give any specifics whatsoever."
Because Arthur doesn't know the details of the distribution plan, he noted that he can't book appointments or even know how to staff his pharmacy. Perhaps even worse, he's not even sure what to tell customers when they call looking to obtain the vaccine.
"My most responsible response that I can provide to patients on a day like today and after an announcement like that is that we are here and we are prepared to give the vaccine," Arthur began, noting that his phone was ringing off the hook Wednesday. "We register with the State of New York Department of Health weekly, and we are awaiting our allotment, and they should check back with the pharmacy on a weekly basis, because anything other than that would be giving people a false sense of expectation."
The Tuesday announcement comes a day after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious-disease expert, called on Americans to get vaccinated as soon as they're eligible to prevent further mutations of the virus. The U.S. is tracking the spread of potentially more virulent and treatment-resistant variants.
"Viruses cannot mutate if they don't replicate," Fauci said. "And if you stop their replication by vaccinating widely and not giving the virus an open playing field to continue to respond to the pressures that you put on it, you will not get mutations."
