Will COVID-19 vaccines be available at Publix, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and others?
Article updated on Jan. 6, 2021.
Where will you be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine in Florida?
Besides vaccination sites (similar to COVID-19 testing sites) that are opening across the state, you’ll eventually be able to get vaccinated during your grocery run.
Publix, Walmart, Winn-Dixie, Fresco y Más, Sam’s Club and Costco were some of the companies approved in November by the federal government to administer the vaccines to the general public. So were CVS and Walgreens, which are currently distributing the vaccines to long-term care facilities.
Walgreens expects to have vaccines readily available to the general population sometime in the spring. CVS told the Miami Herald in an email that doses could be available at its Florida pharmacies in late March at the earliest.
Publix stores in Citrus, Hernando and Marion counties in Central and Southwest Florida will soon begin scheduling appointments for people 65 and older who are interested in getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Part of The Villages, the large retirement community in Central Florida, is in Marion County, the home of Ocala.
None of the Publix stores in South Florida will have the vaccine in stock for now, but that may change in the future.
No matter which pharmacy you go to, the vaccine won’t cost anything (U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill) though some places might charge a fee for administering it. However, that fee will be reimbursed by your insurance or, if you are uninsured, by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) program.
Proof of residency is also not required in Florida to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which means a Miami-Dade resident can get the vaccine in Broward or vice-versa. Snowbirds can get it too.
Will you need to make an appointment?
Publix, CVS and Walgreens say yes.
Vaccination appointments at select Publix stores in Florida can be made online at publix.com/covidvaccine.
Walgreens said it will provide online scheduling options similar to how it schedules flu and other routine vaccinations once a COVID-19 vaccine is broadly available. At CVS, COVID-19 vaccine appointments will be done through the CVS mobile app.
Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies are making preparations to receive the vaccines, including a system to inform people when they should receive their first and second doses. However, the companies said that the vaccine availability will likely differ by state, making it difficult to forecast when the stores will receive the vaccine.
Costco declined to comment, and Winn-Dixie did not respond to a request for comment.
Which COVID-19 vaccine will CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and others have?
Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines were given emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration in December. Other potential vaccines are also expected to be reviewed by the FDA soon.
Florida so far has been using the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to vaccinate healthcare workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, and people 65 and older, including snowbirds.
Vaccine availability at your pharmacy will depend on which vaccine the government decides to allocate to them once the vaccine is ready to hit their shelves.
Publix, for example, will be distributing Moderna’s vaccine.
While it’s still not clear which vaccine other pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens will have, expect to make two appointments, including at Publix. Pfizer’s vaccine requires two shots, three weeks apart, and can be given to people 16 and older, for example, while Moderna’s vaccine requires two shots, one month apart, and can be given to people 18 and older. Neither vaccine will give you COVID-19.
In order to distribute the Pfizer vaccine, the pharmacy would need a special freezer that can keep it at more than 100 degrees below zero. That’s colder than winter in Antarctica. Moderna’s vaccine can be stored in normal freezers.
Regardless of which vaccine is available, you will be given a vaccination card, which includes information on which vaccine you received and when your next dose is. This is important since the vaccines are not interchangeable, which means if your first dose was Moderna’s vaccine, your second dose also needs to be Moderna’s.
No word yet whether any of the companies plan to offer a gift card incentive like they sometimes do for the flu shot.
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 10:07 AM.
