Pa. health officials celebrate federal pharmacy partnership's progress in vaccinations

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Alison Beam on Thursday thanked federal pharmacy partners for their help distributing covid vaccine to residents across the state and said the collaboration would continue for the time being.

As of May 20, 50% of Pennsylvania’s adult population has been fully vaccinated, and more than 55% of the entire population has received at least one dose. Vaccine providers across the state have administered more than 9.9 million doses.

“We should all be incredibly proud of this progress that is being made in no small part thanks to our retail pharmacy partners,” Beam said.

Representatives from nine pharmacies – including national chains like Walgreens, Rite Aid and Topco – have signed a letter of intent their partnership with the state Department of Health and pledging continued cooperation.

“We share the nation’s enthusiasm to get people vaccinated safely, equitably and as quickly as possible, but no one organization is going to solve the issue of the pandemic alone,” said Jenni Paynter, regional healthcare director of Walgreens. “It’s really going to take all of us working together.”

The pharmacies also include Albertsons, which operates ACME and Sav-On pharmacies, Amerisource Bergen (Good Neighbor Pharmacies), Costco, Walmart, Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network and the GIANT Company.

Beam said about 25% of all vaccinations across the state were performed by the federal pharmacy partners.

The state began partnering with pharmacy chains from the beginning of the vaccine rollout, when Walgreens and CVS Health took charge of inoculating residents and staff in long-term care facilities. In February, some chains began receiving direct shipments of vaccine from the federal government, a strategy state officials hoped would ease a severe supply and demand issue.

Beam called the pharmacies “entrepreneurial” in their efforts to vaccinate Pennsylvanians, naming specific instances like Giant Eagle’s mass vaccination clinic in Heinz Field.

“We are so appreciative of them for the work that they are doing, and we will continue to work with them to ensure that every Pennsylvanian who wants to get vaccinated has access to vaccine.”

The letter of intent is meant to “memorialize” and celebrate the progress made so far in the state’s vaccination effort, Beam said, while committing to support one another

“We need to keep pushing to vaccinate all Pennsylvanians in the weeks to come,” Beam said. “This letter of intent is a sign that Pennsylvania is not putting on the breaks, but rather strengthening our partnerships to ensure we support residents in every community, across the commonwealth.”