On Friday, some major pharmacies, including Walgreens, distributed COVID-19 vaccines across the country under President Biden’s retail distribution program. Carlos Cubia, Senior VP and Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Walgreens Boots Alliance, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss how the company handles distribution – including within minority communities.
Video transcription
MYLES ABROAD: Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging here in the US, that we are seeing cases coming down, also hospitalizations. But this pandemic has certainly opened the eyes of many Americans to the inequalities we have seen in the health care system.
With us to talk more about how America thinks about the next phase of treatment here in the US is Carlos Cubia. He is Walgreens’ chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer. We are also accompanied by Anjalee Khemlani of Yahoo Finance.
Carlos, thank you so much for joining the program today. I would like to begin by reflecting on how you think about Walgreens, the challenges that the fairness of American health care really faces, and I think the ways in which we are all confronted with this lack of access to vaccines, whether it’s in the beginning now, and I think persistent treatment with COVID as this situation unfolds.
CARLOS CUBIA: Certainly. Well, thank you for having me. Glad to be here with you today. When we think of the vaccine in itself, we know that there were health differences in black and brown communities. And at Walgreens Boots Alliance, we are committed to making sure we reach the underserved and underrepresented communities through education, by targeting underserved areas with our vaccinations.
I mean, we’ve been in the vaccine game for a very long time. We know how to reach out to the underserved and hard to reach communities. And it’s a commitment we made many years ago, and I think we’s well positioned today to continue education and to provide the necessary information so that people can access the vaccine.
BRIAN SOZZI: So Carlos, vaccines are now starting to hit some of your stores in 15 countries. What protocols have you put in place to ensure that the right people get this vaccine?
CARLOS CUBIA: Well, as you know, the first set of vaccines released was dictated by the CDC, states and local governments. So we worked in partnership with the organizations to make sure we adhered to the guidelines they set. But when we go to mass distribution, we want to make sure that we are equipped to do a few things, to make sure that the vaccine is available everywhere in all the communities that need it.
And I know that in some areas that are difficult to reach, we have undertaken strategies to go to mobile clinics, to work with clinics outside the area to make sure we get into the underserved areas, to follow the protocol that set up by the CDC. and to really go out and make the vaccine available to everyone. So follow the guidelines and protocol at the CDC and the state and local governments have set it.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Carlos, Anjalee here. There seems to be a dual technology issue at stake. The one is appointments and make it. And then there is the collection and capture of the data to ensure that our minorities and ethnic and diverse ethnic groups who have access to the vaccine keep up. What does Walgreens do to address both?
CARLOS CUBIA: Again, as I said earlier, we did vaccinations and recorded the information and captured the data so that we could share it with the necessary organizations and authorities – as appropriate. We will therefore continue to follow the guidelines through technology that we set up during our registration process. It is therefore not new to us in terms of this information.
I mean, it’s something we’re been doing for some time. So, we will continue to follow the protocols that already exist. And if there are new procedures required by the federal government or the CDC, we will quickly work with our teams to – put them in place and follow the guidelines.
JULIE HYMAN: Carlos, it’s Julie here. When you talk about the need to carry out the vaccine in minority communities, it’s also part of the piece – and you talked about education, which is obviously very important. Part of the piece is also who is administering the vaccine.
And I do not mean just Walgreens. I mean the real person who gives the chance. What percentage of your pharmacists are people of color, are people who look like their constituents to whom they reach out, because it can also be part of the puzzle?
CARLOS CUBIA: Well, I can tell you that we have a very diverse population in terms of our pharmacists and our pharmacy techniques trained to administer the vaccine. And we are very proud of the fact that our pharmacists represent the communities from which they serve. To give you the exact number, I will probably need to contact your exact number.
But our population of diverse employees in our field industry is 49%, and so we have 49% diversity. And to a large extent our pharmacy population agrees with that, but I can contact you with the exact number. But we make sure that we represent the community and that we try to target the areas on people who can link and, as you know, are in those communities.
JULIE HYMAN: Mm-hmm.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: And Carlos–
CARLOS CUBIA: Sorry. Go ahead.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: – look at the – no worries. And if we look at the administration itself, we know that these two vaccines that are currently available have specific cold temperature requirements and that J&J will probably be able to see online in the next month or so, what do you think about how you are going to distribute them? , especially to these hard-to-reach communities, depending on which vaccine will be sent specifically?
CARLOS CUBIA: Now, now we are equipped with all the different requirements required for each of the respective vaccines. We have the extreme cold temperature shortages in our stores. For the regular temperatures for the Moderna vaccine, I think we have the capabilities.
And as I said in the past, we did vaccinations, whether it’s the flu vaccine, a pneumonia vaccine, the shingles vaccine, we can turn around quickly to get the accommodation needed to get it up and running. store and then transport out to the necessary places where we are going to administer it. We therefore feel fairly confident that we can meet all the criteria set out.
MYLES ABROAD: Okay, Carlos Cubia is the Global Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance. Carlos, really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us this morning, and I know we’ll be talking soon.
CARLOS CUBIA: Thank you. Thank you for having me.