Senior Editor
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ virtual Regional Chain Conference kicked off Monday with a discussion from the organization’s top leaders about the role regional chains have played in the nation’s response to COVID-19. As the pandemic has elevated pharmacies’ role in patient care to new heights, speakers expressed a desire for pharmacies to remain empowered even after the pandemic subsides.
Craig Norman, senior vice president of pharmacy at H-E-B and NACDS’ 2021 Regional Chain Chair noted that while early retailer efforts were around making shopping safer for consumers building out delivery and other convenience/safety offerings these coincided with a slowdown in immunizations and immunization programs. But a slow spring and summer gave way to a busy flu shot season, offering pharmacy a chance to shine.
Local CVS Pharmacies to Soon Administer COVID-19 Vaccines
Texas is one of the states that CVS will be administering COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, about 70 locations in Texas will be enrolling in distributing the COVID-19 vaccine, and Midland is one of the locations with Odessa to hopefully be added later.
CVS Health announced the vaccine distribution is a part of an 11-state rollout of 335 CVS pharmacy locations.
38,000 total doses will be distributed in the state of Texas, it is a limited amount that is directly sourced from the Federal Pharmacy Partnership Program.
The communities in Texas that will be participating for this round will be Abilene, Amarillo, Beaumont, Brownsville, El Paso, Houston, Laredo, Lubbock, Midland, Plano, San Antonio, and Waco.
UMATILLA COUNTY â Umatilla County saw a sharp uptick in COVID-19 immunizations last week, as 2,559 county residents reportedly received the vaccine over a seven-day span between Jan. 22 and Jan. 29, according to data from the Oregon Health Authority.
Thatâs the largest jump in inoculations since efforts began in the county in late December 2020.
After health care workers began formally immunizing residents on Dec. 28, 2020, it took the county 18 days to report a higher total than last weekâs, according to OHA data.
In addition, 986 people have now received their second âboosterâ dose, fully immunizing them against coronavirus. Only four people in the county were reported as fully immunized against the virus two weeks before, according to OHA data as of Jan. 17.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about the Federal Pharmacy Partnership.
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 5,191 new coronavirus cases, as hospitalizations and case counts continue to trend downward in the Keystone State.
The new data bring the total cases to 839,239.
That’s a jump of about 39,000 more cases than this time last week. The week before, the weekly increase was just above 36,000.
Officials said nearly 109,000 of the total cases are considered probable. Health officials define a probable case as one in which a patient has a positive viral antigen test or covid symptoms with a “high-risk exposure” to someone who has been confirmed to have coronavirus.