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Walgreens released a statement last week after it was revealed that Covid-19 vaccines were given to the general public in Kentucky!
The company, which is distributing vaccines in the state in partnership with Operation Warp Speed, confirmed that although the members of the public were not eligible to receive the doses this early in the roll-out–that’s exactly what happened.
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A spokesperson for Walgreens said that they are working with long-term care facilities “to meet their vaccination needs,” as part of the CDC’s Pharmacy Partnership, but that the vaccines they were distributing (Pfizer’s) can only be refrigerated for five days and they didn’t want the doses to go to waste. Makes sense!
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Local news affiliates reported over the holiday weekend that doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were made available to the general public at the Walgreens on Lane Allen in Lexington, Kentucky.
The issue stemmed from a long-term care facility not needing all of the doses they requested, and on Christmas Eve those excess doses were reallocated and used at Walgreens stores with clinics in the area (these locations would have received the vaccine at later stages in the roll-out).
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Additional doses were then offered to local first responders, Walgreens employees, and the general public.
“In the future, if these cannot be given out to a long-term care facility, if this happens again, we’re gonna provide some additional guidance for those who are most at risk, that the pharmacy will be able to provide it to. But again, under all the policies in place, this shouldn’t have happened, I don’t think this was intentional, but it should have been done differently,” the state's Governor Andy Beshear said at a press conference.
