Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and CVS Health Corp said on Friday they have begun administering Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to residents and staff at some U.S. long-term care facilities.
The companies, which run the nation's largest pharmacy chains and offer other offsite pharmacy services, have agreed with the federal government to vaccinate nursing home residents across the country through a voluntary program.
Walgreens said it plans to administer the vaccine to about 3 million residents and staff in 35,000 long-term care facilities. The company said it would provide vaccinations in about 800 long-term care facilities across 12 states in the coming week.
CVS did not say how many people would be given the vaccine on Friday, but that it is administering them at a "handful" of long-term care facilities in Connecticut and Ohio. Its national rollout also begins next week in 12 states.
The companies told Reuters last week that they will start administering a vaccine made by Moderna Inc about a week after they begin their national rollouts.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Dania Nadeem in Bengaluru and Richa Naidu in Chicago; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Maju Samuel)
