Walgreens’ system currently allows people to book their second dose of appointment, but they can only do so the day before the appointment.
“I’m not happy about that,” Ms DeTurris Poust said. “It gives me another week not to be protected, so that means there’s another week I’m worried about catching it from someone or giving it to someone.”
Some public health experts have said they are not worried that Walgreens is planning doses with a four-week gap.
“It’s a week difference. Everyone will need to put it in their contexts and their risk factors, but I think it is a very reasonable approach ”from Walgreens, said dr. Katherine Poehling, a pediatrician at the Wake Forest School of Medicine who sits on the CDC advisory panel, said recommending that Pfizer doses be given about three weeks apart.
But other experts said they were concerned.
“It is not the role of a private, for-profit enterprise to make public health decisions, but should be determined by guidelines issued by a public health authority,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global professor of health law. at Georgetown University, said.
Dima Qato, a pharmacist and associate professor at the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, said she was concerned about how the public sees inconsistent messages about the doses of the same vaccine.
“While we are trying to build confidence in this pandemic, I think it can push us back,” said Dr. Qato said.
Walgreens is not the only vaccine provider to give the second shots slightly later than recommended. Others nationwide have been doing this for months, especially in the early days of the explosion when vaccine supply was limited and the sites had little clarity on what vaccines and how many doses they would receive in subsequent weeks, Tinglong Dai said. healthcare operations at Johns Hopkins University.