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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

CVS Launches Vaccination in Valley

Agoura Hills and Ventura were the first CVS Health locations in the San Fernando Valley region to start administering COVID-19 vaccines, the company said in a statement.The Valley stores are listed among 353 pharmacies across an 11-state federal program to administer the vaccines to eligible community members; CVS did not cite specific stores to avoid an influx of people that either aren’t eligible to receive a vaccine yet or didn’t make an appointment online.There is one CVS in Agoura Hills, and seven in Ventura, according to the company website.The program began Feb. 12. Of the sites, initially 100 were located in California, CVS said.The Rhode Island-based company added 40 more locations to California, according to Lisa Kalajian, pharmacist and licensed district leader at CVS Health. Twenty of those new locations are in the Greater Los Angeles area. The company’s goal is to administer 20 million to 25 million shots per month.“Locations are being opened based on allotment. As we’re receiving vaccines, we as a company are seeing which locations we can add,” Kalajian said. Approximately 82,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been made available in California stores; CVS is working with officials on the state and federal levels to receive Pfizer doses too — approximately 49,140 Pfizer doses were made available at 40 California sites as of Feb. 25.Added Kalajian: “We will be leveraging both the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines. We’re working very closely with those companies based on shipments and what they can provide and what the State of California can release to us and our pharmacies.”Vaccine sites are also at the mercy of state criteria for vaccination appointments, CVS said. For California, that means individuals 65 and older, health care workers as well as nursing home staff and residents.

“We’ve worked extremely closely to choose communities who were underserved and to reach communities who were most in need,” Kalajian told the Business Journal. “COVID has hit certain communities harder than others, that’s one huge factor that was taken into consideration when choosing locations.”Kalajian said the feasibility of everyone being able to enter the building in a way that ensures safety from a social distancing perspective is top of mind too. These CVS locations will still see normal customers, and those looking to get the usual flu shot and pick up prescriptions.CVS has also vaccinated residents and staff at more than 15,000 long-term care facilities in the state. The company is due to complete doses for this demographic by mid-March.

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