North Carolina Walgreens To Begin COVID-19 Vaccinations This Week

NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina Walgreens will begin administering doses of coronavirus vaccine by this weekend, according to North Carolina's top public health official.

"They are going to have vaccines starting at the end of this week at 300 or so stores," North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen said Tuesday. "They're going to have a very small allocation in each store."

Each pharmacy is expected to initially receive about 100 doses of vaccine that will be shipped directly from the federal government. The program is in addition to the state's currently weekly federal allocation of about 150,000 doses.

Walgreens is administering vaccines in North Carolina, as well as in other states, as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Partnership.

The pharmacy locations were selected by Walgreens, and they are already taking appointments, Cohen said.

"We've already heard that their website was having some issues, so we know there's a lot of demand out there," she said.

Vaccine appointments may be made here.

Walgreens said that those eligible to receive the vaccine in North Carolina include:

• Individuals 65 years of age and older
• Residents at long term care facilities and skilled nursing facilities
• Workers and contractors at long term care facilities and skilled nursing facilities
• Front line health workers with high-risk of COVID exposure
• Individuals caring for admitted COVID-19 patients including staff responsible for cleaning, food service and maintenance
• Individuals performing procedures at high risk or aerosolization, Individuals handling decedents with COVID-19 and administering vaccine in initial closed targeted vaccination clinics
• Nurses, Nurse assistants
• Physicians, respiratory technicians, healthcare trainees
• Dentists, hygienists
• Environmental services staff
• EMT / paramedics
• Home health workers, personal care aides
• Community health workers
• Morticians, funeral home staff
• Pharmacists
• Behavioral health providers
• Public health and emergency preparedness workers who are at a high risk of COVID-19 exposure
• Outpatient providers with increased risk of exposure beyond what is typical in a general outpatient setting
• Individuals evaluating or testing COVID-19 patients
• Respiratory care team
• Any health worker that administers vaccine

SEE ALSO: Patch Survey: What Do You Think About Vaccine Rollout In NC?

How Walgreens says the program works:

• You’ll need to be signed into your Walgreens.com pharmacy account. Don’t have one? No problem. Creating one is quick and easy.
• Complete a short screening.
• If you’re eligible, you’ll choose a location and time for your COVID-19 vaccination appointment.
• You’ll be able to schedule appointments for both your Dose 1 and Dose 2 vaccinations at the same time.

Participants are asked to arrive 15 minutes early, and bring the confirmation email, a valid driver's license or other government-issued ID; medical or medicare insurance card; and a completed vaccination consent form. The consent form may be found here.

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