Some Publix grocery store pharmacies will start giving out COVID-19 vaccine shots to eligible groups, Florida Gov. Ran DeSantis said recently, per ClickOrlando.com.
- Officials said all available appointments have been reserved. So that was quick.
- Officials said more appointments will be made available once all the shots have been administrated.
Publix Vice President of Pharmacy Dain Rusk said each store with the vaccine will vaccinate about 120 people per day. The grocery store chain later said shots will begin the same day that the appointments were made, according to ClickOrlando.com.
Bigger picture:
The announcement comes as experts have called on CVS, Walgreens and other pharmacies in the United States to start giving out the vaccine shots in order to get as many people vaccinated as possible, as I explained for the Deseret News.
Former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that CVS, Walgreens and other locations should start giving out vaccines.
- “Make the vaccine more generally available through the retail pharmacies, through Walmart and Walgreens and CVS to a broader population, to a general population starting with age,” Gottlieb said in an interview on the “Face the Nation” program. “We can walk it down the age continuum, make it available for 75 and above first, then 70 and above, and 65 and above. There’s 50 million Americans 65 and above, a large percentage of them probably want to be vaccinated. At some point, we need to allow supply to meet demand here and get the shots into the arms of the people who really want to get vaccinated and are going to go out and seek out the vaccination.”