HOUSTON — The White House has announced the federal government is now shipping COVID-19 vaccines to pharmacy chain locations across the United States, including stores in Texas.
Those shipments are set to be received starting this week, with CVS being one of the first to confirm some locations, including those in Houston, will be accepting appointments on Feb. 11 for Feb. 12 vaccinations.
Jeff Zients, the White House's COVID-19 response coordinator, said earlier this week the first round of vaccine shipments would go to about 6,500 pharmacies — they will receive about a million doses total with more on the way.
List: Pharmacies in Texas getting the COVID vaccine
According to the Centers for Disease Control as of Feb. 3, there are four major chains in Texas getting doses:
- CVS
- H-E-B
- Good Neighbor Pharmacy - which represents independent typically family-owned stores
- Walmart
Notice that Walgreens and Kroger are not on this initial list.
How and when to sign up for an appointment
Each pharmacy has a webpage dedicated to its vaccine distribution, and they are all currently following the state's Phase 1A and 1B guidelines, which focus on the older populations and the vulnerable.
CVS announced it will start taking appointments on Feb. 11, as long as you meet those 1A and 1B requirements.
You can visit the COVID pages for each of these pharmacies using the links below. Keep checking back for when they announce registrations have started:
How many doses will each pharmacy get?
Unfortunately, for now, supplies will be limited and not each pharmacy in our area will offer vaccinations. Doing simple math, based on the White House's numbers from earlier this week, each of the 6,500 pharmacies getting shipments nationwide will only get about 150 doses each. But it's a start to a bigger process of offering in-store vaccinations to the general public once we move beyond Phase 1A and Phase 1B.
Read more about these vaccine shipments to pharmacies from KHOU 11's Shern-Min Chow here.