BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

CVS CEO: Pharmacies Ready To Distribute Covid-19 Vaccines Once Approved

Following
This article is more than 3 years old.

CVS Health chief executive Larry Merlo says the company’s thousands of drugstores with pharmacies will be ready to vaccinate Americans against Covid-19 once the U.S. government gives the green light.

In an interview, Merlo said CVS has expanded cold storage and related facilities for vaccines. Some vaccines in late-stage U.S. testing that need to be stored at minus 80 degrees Celsius, which is minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Such storage and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines is key to the massive logistics effort that will be needed to reach hundreds of millions of Americans.

“When that vaccine is available and we get the call (asking), ‘are you ready’ we are going to be in a position to say, ‘where do you want us to go,’” Merlo said in an interview hours after the company reported third quarter earnings on Friday. “There are going to be different storage and handling requirements. We are ensuring that we have those capabilities in our stores.”

Drugstores with pharmacies including CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and others are expected to play a key role along with hospitals, mobile vaccination vehicles as well as state, local and federal health agencies to make sure Americans are vaccinated via an effective implementation plan, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention told a panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration last month.

With vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna potentially winning emergency authorizations before the end of the year, the U.S. is simultaneously working on distribution and tracking plans to make sure Americans are vaccinated via an effective implementation plan. On Monday, Pfizer said its vaccine is more than 90% effective, citing the latest clinical trial data.

Given pharmacies already have systems to track their customers and medication adherence, drugstore chains have built-in capabilities to track vaccine uptake just like they do a health insurance claim. This is key given Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines require two dosages weeks apart and customers may need to be reminded to come back for their second vaccination.

“Our team has been building our plans in terms of how we can use our digital capabilities to take the complexity out of the process if you will,” Merlo said Friday in an interview after CVS also announced his plan to retire in February 2021. He will be replaced by Karen Lynch, CVS Health’s executive vice president and president of Aetna.

Merlo said the second, so-called ‘booster’ shot “will have a defined time frame it has to be administered.” Thus, CVS and other drugstores will be handling all of the administrative efforts to make sure customers getting vaccinated get their second shot at the appropriate time.

“After your first vaccine, we will schedule your appointment at the appropriate time for the second dosage,” Merlo said of the effort by CVS to meet “quality assurance requirements” in the Covid-19 vaccination process.

Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedInCheck out my website or some of my other work here