Atlanta, GA—As of mid-July, about 112 million COVID-19 vaccines doses had been administered through the federal retail pharmacy program, with another 8 million delivered through the Pharmacy Partnership for Long Term Care Program.

The CDC reported on its website that about 40,000 pharmacy locations are involved in the program. It adds that about 43% of the doses administered through the program have gone to racial or ethnic minority group members, with about 57% of people vaccinated being from a racial or ethnic minority group since the beginning of July.

“The fight against COVID is a long way from over, but we are very proud of how pharmacists everywhere have answered the call,” said National Community Pharmacists Association chief executive officer B. Douglas Hoey. “Community pharmacies have been critical to the success of the program so far. Pharmacists and their teams have administered over 100 million COVID-19 shots to Americans in all 50 states! Because of the involvement of community pharmacists, the vaccination rollout was faster and thousands of lives were saved. And in the darkest days of the pandemic, when almost every other health care provider was shut down, independent pharmacists were open, taking care of their patients.”

Hoey noted that, while pharmacists have been providing vaccinations for decades, the pandemic helped educate more consumers about pharmacists’ role as healthcare providers.

“In the last 18 months, community pharmacists have further proved themselves to be essential health care providers who save lives,” he added. “Public health officials at every level have taken notice. We are looking forward to working with them to permanently expand the scope of pharmacy so we can defeat this virus and be ready for the next national health emergency.”

The NCPA noted that the CDC figure on doses delivered by pharmacists doesn’t include those provided under state programs, which involve thousands more pharmacies.

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