GoLocal Daily RI Vaccination Update: CVS to Be in Eye of Vaccination Storm
Monday, February 01, 2021
Monday’s GoLocal vaccination update provides the most up-to-date information and data on the Rhode Island vaccination program as well as emerging national and global developments.
1. CVS Taking Center Stage
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Joe Biden’s administration is planning to utilize CVS and other leading pharmacy retailers to vaccinate many Americans.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCVS says it can vaccinate 20 million to 25 million people a month once supplies are available. Walmart said in January that it would be able to vaccinate 10 million to 13 million a month.
CVS, which employs 34,000 pharmacists and 65,000 technicians, declined to say how many workers it is hiring.
One of the biggest challenges for CVS and the other retailers is dealing with customers eager to know when it’s their turn.
“We’re doing everything in our power to avoid confusion about how to get vaccinated,” a CVS spokesman told the Wall Street Journal. In addition to long-term care facilities, the drugstore chain is offering shots to select groups in Indiana, Massachusetts, New York and Puerto Rico. People eligible for a vaccine must make an appointment.
Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) officials have not disclosed if it plans to use CVS and others. RI officials have no centralized sign-up infrastructure and have provided no online or phone signup system for RI residents.
2. RI Now Has Utilized 52.6% of Its Vaccine
RIDOH officials continue to struggle to get Rhode Islanders vaccinated.
According to the CDC and updated on Monday, RI has now:
Received 173,225 doses
Administered 91,177 doses
Of the vaccine doses received, RI has utilized 52.6%
Updated 2/1/2021
3. COVID-19 Testing and Vaccinating Canceled Monday Due to Storm
RIDOH announced Sunday that due to the pending storm, all State-operated COVID-19 testing sites will be closed on Monday. State sites are any of the locations scheduled through portal.ri.gov or the K-12 test scheduling service.
Additionally, COVID-19 vaccinations will not be happening on Monday at Rhode Island’s regional clinics in Bristol, Providence, and East Greenwich. "These clinics are all operating on an appointment only basis. People who had appointments for Monday for the Bristol, Providence, and East Greenwich sites will be contacted directly about rescheduling. Most of the appointments for tomorrow were for first responders and healthcare providers. Some limited vaccinating of people 75 years of age and older had been scheduled for the clinics in Bristol and East Greenwich," wrote RIDOH.
4. AstraZeneca to Step Up Production in Europe
The BBC is reporting that AstraZeneca will step up production after much criticism.
The EU says UK-Swedish drug firm AstraZeneca will now supply an additional nine million Covid vaccine doses by March, after days of criticism of the bloc's vaccination programme. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was a "step forward".
But the 40m doses now expected are still only about half of what had been hoped, amid continuing supply problems. The Commission has been involved in a much-criticised row with both the UK and AstraZeneca this week.
In particular it was condemned over its threat to put checks on the Northern Ireland border to prevent vaccines produced in the EU from reaching the UK.
The border was one of the most difficult problems to overcome in the recently agreed Brexit deal, following the UK's departure from the EU.
The EU was angry that Britain was getting its UK-made contracted supplies from AstraZeneca while it suffered a shortfall. So the bloc announced it was introducing export controls on coronavirus vaccines made inside the EU to try to protect its supplies. The Brexit deal ensures there are no obstacles to trade between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland .
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