Pharmacy chain Walgreens said on Friday that it will be working with 35,000 assisted care facilities throughout the US in the coming weeks and months in administering the coronavirus vaccine.
Earlier this week, CVS announced plans to vaccinate those working or living in 40,000 assisted living facilities.
Walgreens expects to vaccinate 3 million residents and staff at facilities throughout the US. CVS did not announced how many people they expect to vaccinate through the program.
Starting next week, Walgreens will be administering coronavirus vaccines to residents and staff at 800 facilities spread across 12 US states.
CVS and Walgreens are expected at some point to administer the coronavirus vaccine to the general public, but when is still a major question. Currently, a limited number of vaccines are making their way to health care workers and those living and working in assisted living facilities.
President-elect Joe Biden said his administration’s goal is to have 100 million Americans vaccinated by the end of April, but that figure represents less than one third of the US population.
“Walgreens is very proud to be a part of this historic milestone to begin administering Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to our most vulnerable populations,” said John Standley, president, Walgreens. “With more than a decade of experience administering various vaccines, we have the deep expertise to support this unprecedented effort to allow our nation to emerge from this pandemic.”