NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Walmart Inc. is preparing to host COVID-19 vaccinations in seven more states this week and next, as well as in Chicago and Puerto Rico, a company spokesman told Reuters and further expanded than the two states where its pharmacists offer vaccinations.
The move by the world’s largest retailer comes as US President Joe Biden accelerates a frustrating, slow vaccination campaign that has caught about half of the 38 million shots in freezers.
Walmart will begin delivering vaccinations this week and next week in Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina and Texas, as well as in Chicago and Puerto Rico, the spokesman said. The shots are only available for specific populations determined by each state, and only at a handful of stores in each state.
Walmart is already vaccinating health workers in New Mexico and its home state of Arkansas.
Alabama Health Officer Scott Harris said Thursday that the state will work with Walmart to deliver COVID-19 vaccines. Walmart has confirmed the deal, which falls under a federal partnership that Biden said Thursday would begin in early February.
Harris said another deal, with a large pharmacy chain, is coming soon.
Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, and Rite Aid also increased to vaccinate Americans in the largest and most complex vaccination effort in American history. These shots are needed to stop the virus, which has killed more than 400,000 people and infected more than 24 million people in the United States.
The Trump administration has shown vaccine planning to states, which have been asked to come up with their own plans, a move that has plagued many pharmacy chains and pharmacies in supermarkets.
“We need to be flexible when trying to operate state-by-state operations, but we feel that it is absolutely the right thing to lean on and help figure it out,” said Doum McMillon, CEO of Walmart, said the consumer electronics show last week. “This is the approach we are following.”
He said Walmart “makes sure we can handle the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine, and do it appropriately and safely.”
A Texas Department of State Health Services spokesman said many of Walmart’s pharmacies have enrolled as vaccine providers in the state, but that “only a handful” have received the doses so far due to the limited supply. “If there is a larger supply and we can regularly allocate to more pharmacies, it will be included,” the spokesman said.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told Reuters he plans to continue and expand his existing partnership with Walmart, and that Walmart has agreed to be an important part of its distribution plan as additional vaccine doses become available.
Reporting by Melissa Fares in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; edited by Jason Neely and Steve Orlofsky