Nearly 40 Massachusetts supermarkets are working with the state to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to their pharmacies starting next week.
Wegmans is one of many supermarkets participating in the new vaccine launch effort. The supermarket chain will also work with officials in New York and Pennsylvania to administer vaccines.
The state will also partner with food chains Big Y, Price Chopper, Stop & Shop and Hannaford to provide approximately vaccination locations starting Monday, according to the Baker administration.
The increase in vaccination sites comes after the discovery of nearly 2,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine at Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center in Boston, after the refrigerator in which they were stored was accidentally disconnected.
People in Boston have responded to the loss of nearly 2,000 COVID-19 vaccines at VA Medical Center in the Jamaican Plain.
This is happening as more and more states say they are running out of vaccines. Many also claim that they did not have an adequate number of doses to begin with.
Anna Nagurney, a professor of operations management at UMass Amherst, who is an expert in supply chains, called the loss of 1,900 doses of vaccine at the VA facility “unforgivable.”
The Biden administration is setting a new target for vaccine distribution, as states face shortages and new strains of COVID-19 virus are emerging.
“You can’t make that happen,” Nagurney said. “We need better security, we need better quality control, it can’t be about someone unplugging refrigerators, that’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Complementary doses are on the way and there should be no disruption to the vaccination efforts of Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center, according to VA officials.