Importance of Pharmacy Partnerships in Effective COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

Abstract

Narrative Abstract The goal of vaccinating the majority of Americans against COVID-19 in a timely manner requires a robust federal vaccine distribution plan involving pharmacy partnerships. Previously, the 2009 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) H1N1 Vaccine Pharmacy Initiative resulted in approximately 10% of adults who received a vaccine during the 2009 pandemic reporting they were vaccinated at a pharmacy. This proportion has already largely increased for COVID-19 vaccinations, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) using similar channels for vaccination as existing partnerships with national pharmacy and grocery retail chains for the COVID-19 Community-Based Testing Program. It continues to prove crucial that the Biden Administration’s national COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, including the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, focus on ensuring equitable vaccine distribution and access in medically underserved areas and to vulnerable populations, enabling maximum uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.

The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program (FRPP) Impact on COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution During Pandemic: Effectiveness, Limitations, and Implications

“…The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program (FRPP) is a collaboration between the United States (US) federal government and 21 national public-private pharmacy partnerships representing over 40,000 pharmacy locations to increase access and directly supply COVID-19 vaccines across all 50 states [10][11][12]. These vital partnerships between the federal government and pharmacy partners will help increase the distribution of the vaccines.…”

“…FRPP helped to ensure equitable and expanded access to the vaccine. The CDC worked with states to select initial pharmacy partners based on some factors, including their ability to reach populations most at risk for COVID-19, the number of available stores, and those who had a positive alignment with existing vaccination strategies and provide them with an initial number of COVID-19 vaccines [ 12 , 15 ]. This limited initiation phase was used to gauge the infrastructure response, so once vaccine production increases, that system was ready for a large-scale mass immunization campaign [ 15 ].…”

“…Phase 1 prioritizes the vaccine to specified groups, Phase 2 expands access to all, and Phase 3 ensures supply meets demand [ 4 ]. Efforts were made throughout the FRPP to increase the excess of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure the vaccine was free for the public [ 12 , 16 ]. The FRPP’s main goal was to use the strength and expertise of pharmacy partners to help rapidly vaccinate the American people [ 3 ].…”

Planning and Organization of the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign: An Overview of Eight European Countries

“…Indeed, mass vaccination centers have been created to guarantee thousands of daily administrations [ 9 ]. At the same time, in order to reach an equitable vaccine distribution and access, especially in medically unserved rural areas, many countries have involved pharmacies in the vaccination campaign [ 10 ]. Public health authorities have also offered drive-in or mobile clinic services to populations living in rural areas or neighborhoods [ 11 ].…”

Did COVID-19 Vaccines Go to the Whitest Neighborhoods First? Racial Inequities in Six Million Phase 1 Doses Shipped to Pennsylvania

“…For both retail programs, the CDC allocated doses directly to corporations operating pharmacy chains in Pennsylvania [30][31][32] . Those corporations then determined which of their retail locations would receive vaccine shipments and how many doses those shipments would contain 33 .…”