Wednesday, May 5, 2021
CVS pharmacies are now accepting same-day COVID-19 vaccination appointments, and at some locations no appointment is necessary.
About 190 locations in Arizona are taking walk-ins, but appointments are also available within an hour of scheduling.
“We continue to orchestrate an all-out effort to vaccinate the nation against COVID-19,” said CVS Health President and CEO Karen S. Lynch. “Thanks to the dedication and effort of our colleagues, I am proud to say we helped achieve the President’s accelerated 100-day goal of 200 million vaccines and have administered over 17 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to date. Our customers continue to give us high satisfaction scores based on their interactions with colleagues and our customer-centric digital approach for scheduling appointments.”
CVS has administered more than 17 million COVID-19 vaccine doses nationwide through the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program and Federal Retail Pharmacy Program as of May 5. CVS locations boast a more than 90% second-dose compliance rate.
Walgreens announced it would offer same-day appointments at locations across the country as of today. Patients can schedule appointments up to 30 minutes before the desired appointment time.
While Walgreens continues to encourage appointments, a Walgreens corporate spokesperson said, walk-ins have and continue to be accepted “if a time slot is available,” across all 8,800 Walgreens stores offering vaccinations.
The announcement by CVS comes after the state announced on April 27 that it would allow no-appointment walk-ins at state PODs. Pima County offers no-appointment walk-ins at its mobile clinics and some large vaccination sites, including El Pueblo Center on Irvington Road.
Vaccinations continue to decline across the nation, with 246,440 vaccines administered in Arizona during the week of April 25. That was down from the 344,055 the week before. With 2,368,154 fully vaccinated individuals in the state, about 32.9% of Arizonans are fully vaccinated.
CVS has worked with community partners and nonprofit organizations like YMCAs and churches to raise awareness about the importance of getting vaccinated and connect people to these sites, said Monica Prinzing, CVS Western Region senior communications consultant.
“We believe we can play a meaningful role in addressing vaccine hesitancy in our communities, with over 30,000 trusted pharmacists serving as patient educators and vaccine administrators,” said Prinzing. “Presently, we’re focused on increased education on the vaccine’s safety and efficacy alongside improved access to the vaccine.”