CVS accepting walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations

Move follows Biden’s announcement to increase vaccinations

CVS pharmacies across the U.S., including in Connecticut, are now accepting walk-ins for COVID-19 vaccinations, the company announced Wednesday.

CVS pharmacies across the U.S., including in Connecticut, are now accepting walk-ins for COVID19 vaccinations, the company announced Wednesday.

The pharmacy chain is hosting walk-ins at 173 locations in Connecticut and more than 8,000 locations across the country, according to a company spokesperson.

The announcement came one day after President Joe Biden announced that he would direct all federally partnered pharmacies — which includes CVS — to allow walk-in vaccination appointments. The president’s directive marks a new focus on reaching those who are hesitant or ambivalent about the vaccine, as vaccinations nationwide begin to drop off, according to The New York Times.

Patients who prefer appointments can now also use CVS.com to schedule vaccination slots as

soon as one hour from the scheduling time, according to the company.

According to the pharmacy chain’s website, CVS is accepting patients aged 16 andolder. Thepharmacy has participating locations in all eight counties, ranging from Greenwich at the southwestern point of Connecticut to the town of Putnam in the northeast corner.

As of late Tuesday morning, the majority of the Connecticut CVSlocations had available vaccination appointments, according to the site.

Nearly 2 million Connecticut residents have so far received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That data, which was updated Tuesday, shows that 56% of the state’s total population has received at least one dose.

When looking at only those aged 18 and older — which excludes eligible 16and 17-year-olds but gives a better sense of the uptake rates among the eligible population — about 69% of Connecticut adults have received at least one dose.

Out of the 50 states, Connecticut currently ranks fourth for the highest percent of the total population that has received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Hospitalizations dip, weekly positivity rate holds steady: Connecticut on Wednesday reported a slight dip in coronavirus hospitalizations, as the state’s weekly average positivity rate remains approximately steady at just under 2%. The state on Wednesday reported 609 newly identified COVID-19 cases out of a total of 23,455 tests administered, for a daily positivity rate of 2.6%.

That’s notably higher than the weekend’s rate of 1.8%, but lower than Tuesday’s rate of 3%. When viewed close-up, the state’s positivity rate fluctuates fairly widely from one day to the next.

The weekly average rate, however, typically offers a morestable view of positivity rate. Currently, Connecticut’s weekly average rate has remained at 1.9% since Monday.

Also on Wednesday, the state reported that coronavirus hospitalizations dropped by 10, for a total of 333 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s the lowest number the state has seen since the end of October.

State and hospital officials have said that the vast majority of hospitalized coronavirus patients were not fully vaccinated when they contracted the illness.

The state continues to report a handful of coronavirus-linked deaths each day, including seven additional deaths reported Wednesday.

Since the pandemic began, Connecticut has seen a total of 341,571 coronavirus cases and 8,124 coronavirus-linked deaths.