Pharmacies already play a key role in delivering vaccinations to nursing homes.
Now, a wider partnership between state and federal governments, plus 283 pharmacies statewide, will provide additional inoculations for drugstores to give COVID-19 vaccines to the general public.
→ Q&AZ: What You Need To Know About Getting The Coronavirus Vaccine In Arizona
So far, more than 63,000 vaccine shots have been administered through the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program, a public-private partnership that offers on-site vaccinations to residents of managed care facilities.
Now another such partnership, the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, has divvied up one million doses among a wider array of pharmacies across the country.
"Then they allocated to the states on a pro-rata basis on the population. And I believe we got about 20,000 doses statewide," said Arizona Department of Health Services director Dr. Cara Christ.
Christ said the department also hopes to launch a Spanish language option on its vaccination website Monday. Spanish-speaking navigators are currently available via the state hotline.
