The Virginia Department of Health has announced additional pharmacy networks that will be administering COVID-19 vaccines to those age 65 and older as part of a federal partnership.
These additions will bring an additional 52,000 vaccines into Virginia this week, the VDH said.
According to the VDH, the newly added pharmacies include Walgreens, Walmart Inc., The Kroger Co., Albertsons Companies Inc. (Safeway), Retail Business Services LLC (Food Lion, Giant Food), Topco Associates LLC (Food City), and CPESN LLC, a network of multiple independent community pharmacies. These networks will be in addition to CVS Pharmacies which began receiving 26,000 vaccine doses last week.
The pharmacy networks will share the additional 26,000 doses and VDH said similar doses are expected in the following weeks.
The vaccines will be distributed to approximately 140 locations across Virginia. VDH said they will work with these pharmacies to determine which locations will receive vaccinations each week in an effort to focus on high-risk and vulnerable communities. While most will administer vaccinations in their stores, Walmart will hold off-site mass clinics in rotating areas of the state.
VDH is working with eligible pharmacies to schedule appointments using Virginia’s centralized pre-registration system, as possible. Beginning this week, the Vaccinate Virginia call center is making calls to individuals on the pre-registration list to schedule appointments for Walmart and Giant vaccination events, while other pharmacies have agreed to use pre-registered individuals to schedule their own appointments.
To pre-register, visit vaccinate.virginia.gov or call 877-VAX-IN-VA (TTY users dial 7-1-1).
The 52,000 doses from the federal partnership are in addition to the approximately 160,000 Virginia received this week to be distributed through local health departments and other providers.