Walmart stores in Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina and Texas will offer COVID-19 vaccinations starting next week, said the retailer.
The vaccines will be given at Walmart pharmacies to the groups that state health officials have considered most inoculated. In Texas, for example, only health care workers, residents, and nursing home staff, people 65 years of age or older, or people 16 years of age and older with chronic illnesses, such as sickle cell disease, can get for now the fire. In New Jersey, those eligible for a vaccine include health care workers, residents and nursing home staff, people aged 65 and over, the first to respond, and people aged 16 and over with chronic illnesses.
Vaccinations will also be available at Walmart locations in Chicago and Puerto Rico.
Walmart has already administered vaccines in stores in its home state of Arkansas, as well as in New Mexico, a Walmart spokesman told CBS MoneyWatch. During the expansion, the retailer will offer vaccines seven days a week, an executive said in a post on the company’s blog.
“At full capacity, we expect to be able to deliver 10 to 13 million doses a month, when supply and allocations allow,” said Cherm Pegus, Walmart’s executive vice president for health and wellness.
Walmart has more than 5,000 locations.
“With 150 million people passing through our doors every week, we are in a unique position to reach people where they are already shopping,” she said in the post, adding that the company also hopes to host events. vaccination in churches, stadiums and youth. center.
Walmart joins CVS, Kroger, Rite Aid and Walgreens, among vaccine retailers.
The Walmart movement comes from as many states delay in vaccination of residents and President Joe Biden is looking at speed up the launch. The drive to speed things up invites large private sector companies to step in with Amazon, Costco, Microsoft and Starbucks all offering their help to speed up the pace of vaccinations.
Last week, Mr Biden said he intended to overburden the distribution of vaccination by reaching out to Federal Emergency Management Agency staff and training another 100,000 workers to manage the fires. He pledged to vaccinate another 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of his presidency.
In other measures to intensify the fight against COVID-19, some states have activated them local troops of the National Guard to help distribute vaccines.