It's been a little over a year since COVID-19 hit US soil. Across the US, 63.1 million doses have been given at the time of writing. In the last week, an average of 1.33 million doses per day were administered. Walmart, Sam’s Club, Kroger, and Walgreens began administering vaccines earlier this month. And now, Costco will join the list of national retail chains supporting the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
The warehouse retailer is offering vaccines in select cities in California, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, and Puerto Rico. As of February 22, Puerto Rico had administered the first dose to the lowest percentage of its population out of all 50 states. “Our pharmacies will be administering COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they are available, in accordance with CDC and state guidelines," Costco said in a statement. According to our data from 2020, there are 130 Costco locations in California, 19 in New York, 13 in Oregon, 6 in South Carolina, 32 in Washington, and 4 in Puerto Rico.
CVS is offering the vaccine in 19 states, overlapping with Costco in California, Puerto Rico, New York, and South Carolina. Kroger is currently administering vaccines in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Washington DC, and more. Out of the eight states administering vaccines at the slowest rate, Kroger is serving Utah and Georgia.
Walgreens will get 480,000 vaccines that it will allocate to stores in Arizona, Alaska, California, Chicago, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, New York City, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Walmart, America's largest retailer and private employer, is set to become one of the biggest vaccine distributors in the country. Two weeks ago, 21 retail chains and pharmacy networks started administering doses in all 50 states. The government initially plans to give roughly a million doses a week directly to pharmacies, and about 200,000 of them will go to more than 1,000 Walmart and Sam's Club pharmacies in 22 states. Walmart and Sam’s Club are also giving vaccinations through state allocations in 11 states and the District of Columbia.
Out of Walmart's 5,000 US stores, around 4,000 are located in what the federal government defines as medically underserved areas. “Ninety percent of the country lives within 10 miles of a Walmart. We’re at the heart of many rural and underserved communities, and we are committed to providing access to vaccines as groups become eligible,” Cheryl Pegus, MD, executive vice president for health and wellness for Walmart, said in the statement.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on Walmart's vaccination efforts in central Maine. “We have the most dispersed population of any state in the country,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills told WSJ. “There are other chains, chain grocery stores and whatnot but they were not ready yet with respect to electronic medical records and being able to coordinate information with the state.” Maine also has the eldest population of any state in the country.
Earlier this month, Maine received about 4,800 doses from the federal government that were reserved for Walmart. Each of Walmart’s 24 Maine pharmacy locations received about 200 doses, amounting to a few dozen vaccinations each day per store. Each Maine Walmart store is preparing to administer about 400 doses a week starting next month to provide second doses.
Walmart, among other retailers-turned-vaccination centers, are likely to benefit from the influx of patrons, especially those traveling from more remote areas, gaining potential customers and new patients.
Publix and Rite Aid are also offering appointments, and more sites will open soon. The federal government is partnering with 21 national pharmacy chains and independent pharmacy networks to dole out doses, according to CBS News.
At the time of writing, Alaska has vaccinated the highest percentage of its state population. The first dose of the vaccine has been administered to 20.8% of Alaskan residents. In rural Alaska, remote villages lack any connection to roads or hospitals, nor do they have access to the ultra-cold freezers needed to preserve doses. Still, Alaska has remained in the lead of America's vaccination efforts.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online, jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings, and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
