Walmart plans boosters in 2 weeks
Walmart Inc. is preparing to offer covid-19 booster shots to the public starting in mid-September, pending federal health officials’ approval of a booster plan, the company said.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health and Kroger Co. had previously expressed their intentions to participate in the broader rollout of the boosters. All four companies are already giving a third dose of the vaccine to immunocompromised patients.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Aug. 18 that it had developed a plan to administer a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to all Americans beginning the week of Sept. 20, starting eight months after an individual’s second dose.
The plan includes giving the booster directly to residents of long-term care facilities starting Sept. 20. Before this can happen, though, the Food and Drug Administration and a CDC advisory committee must give it their stamp of approval.
Walmart, which has about 5,000 pharmacies in its U.S. stores and clubs, declined to give any specifics about how it’s preparing for the expanded rollout.
But Dr. John Wig, Walmart’s new chief medical officer, said in a corporate blog post Tuesday that the Bentonville-based retailer is preparing to give millions of the shots.
“We stand ready to administer booster shots this fall once recommended by the
CDC and FDA in the coming weeks,” Wig said.
Wig, who goes by Dr. John Wigneswaran on his LinkedIn profile, said he started the job at Walmart in early August. He replaced Dr. Tom Van Gilder, who left the post in May.
A graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine, Wig served for the past three years as chief medical officer at Express Scripts, according to a brief biography on the Express Scripts website. He said in the blog post that he came to Walmart “because of the tremendous impact the company has on supporting and caring for our communities.”
The reason vaccine providers remain mum on the specifics of their preparations is that they have to wait not only for official approval of the boosters but also the guidelines that will come with them.
John Vinson, chief executive officer of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, said there’s a lot of uncertainty about how the agencies will want the booster plan to be implemented.
One of the unknowns is when patients should get their third shots, Vinson said. The CDC’s original plan called for waiting eight months after receiving the second shot, but Vinson said the agencies may decide after reviewing the evidence that the booster should come after five or six months.
Also, the Sept. 20 start date could be pushed back, he said, which would affect appointment scheduling, supply ordering and other aspects of the plan.
Other guidelines pharmacists need, Vinson said, include dosage, which in turn may depend on the patient’s age. Vaccine providers need to know if patients should get a full dose or a half dose; whether the boosters should be given to those 18 and older or 12 and older; and whether different dosages are appropriate for different age groups.
Dosage amount will also help pharmacies determine how much vaccine they need to have on hand, Vinson said.
“All of those things are still unclear,” Vinson said. “There are lots of moving parts. That’s why it’s hard to plan until [the FDA and CDC committee] approves it and gives guidance on it.”
As for when that approval and guidance may come, Vinson said in his experience it usually comes within a week of when a rollout begins. So if they stay with the Sept. 20 start date, he said, an announcement will likely come Sept. 13 or later.
Kroger Co., one of the nation’s largest supermarket chains, said on Aug. 25 that it’s preparing to give up to 1 million shots each week starting Sept. 20 if the CDC’s plan gets the green light. The company did not immediately respond to requests for information about its preparations.
But a Kroger spokeswoman recently told Reuters that this time around, it will also vaccinate residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. The company was not part of a federal program earlier this year to give vaccinations in those facilities.
CVS Health said in a statement posted to its website said that while it’s awaiting further guidance and approval from regulatory agencies, “we’re fully prepared to play a leading role in providing booster shots this fall.”
“We’ve administered more than 30 million covid-19 vaccines across the country, and immediately began offering third doses to immunocompromised individuals when authorized to do so,” the company said.
Walgreens’ chief medical officer, Dr. Kevin Ban, said the pharmacy chain began on Aug. 13 to administer a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to moderately to severely immunocompromised people. Walgreens is awaiting health officials’ OK to start giving the boosters to the broader population, he said.
Walgreens, which has more than 9,000 retail locations in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, said in a brief statement that it will follow FDA and CDC guidance in administering the extra vaccines to eligible populations.
“[We] feel confident we have the expertise, infrastructure and local community presence to accelerate access to these vaccinations,” the company said.