The Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with independent and chain pharmacies to distribute access to a COVID-19 vaccine when it is approved.
The partnership announced Thursday comes as questions about how to distribute a vaccine have ramped up after Pfizer announced positive results from an interim analysis of its vaccine candidates.
HHS said on Thursday that the partnerships with pharmacy chains and networks of independent pharmacies will cover 60% of facilities throughout the country, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
“We are leveraging the existing private sector infrastructure to get safe and effective vaccines supported by Operation Warp Speed into communities and into arms as quickly as possible with no out-of-pocket costs,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar in a statement Thursday.
The goal of the partnership is to expand access to the vaccines after they are approved.
“Vaccine will be administered at partners’ pharmacy locations at no cost to patients,” the agency said in a release.
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HHS said that pharmacies who do not participate in the federal allocation program should coordinate with their local health department and become vaccine providers.
Some of the major chains that are in the partnership include CVS, Costco, Rite Aid, Walmart and Walgreens.
So far no vaccines have been approved but HHS expects a vaccine to be authorized for use by the end of the year. But the partnerships are the latest step the agency is taking to get ready for the approval and distribution of one.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced late last month it will cover the vaccine at no cost to Medicare beneficiaries.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced earlier this week that preliminary results show its vaccine candidate is 90% effective in warding off COVID-19 infection. The drugmaker still needs to release more data and the Food and Drug Administration has yet to grant emergency approval.
Pfizer’s vaccine candidate also poses a dilemma for distribution as it requires cold storage and must be taken in two separate shots.
Some other vaccine candidates from drug makers like Moderna and Johnson & Johnson remain in clinical trials and could release results by the end of the year.