Walgreens, CVS announce availability of updated COVID boosters
Wachiwit

Leading pharmacy retailers Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA) and CVS Health Corporation (CVS) announced Friday that the redesigned COVID-19 booster shots developed by Pfizer (PFE)/BioNTech (BNTX) and Moderna (MRNA) will now be available nationwide for eligible individuals aged 12 years and above.
The announcements came hours after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended the vaccines in line with authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday.
âThe governmentâs distribution of the updated boosters is underway, and individual CVS Pharmacy locations are receiving the bivalent COVID-19 boosters on a rolling basis over the next few days and weeks,â CVS said in a statement.
According to CDC guidance, the bivalent vaccines updated for the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are indicated as a single booster dose at least two months after primary or booster vaccination.
Pfizer (PFE)/BioNTech (BNTX) vaccine is authorized for use in those aged 12 years and above, while Moderna (MRNA) vaccine is indicated for people aged 18 years and above.
Since the start of the pandemic, Walgreens (WBA) has administered nearly 70M COVID-19 vaccine doses, while CVS (CVS) has administered over 73M doses.
During the booster rollout, the U.S. government plans to deliver 175M doses of updated COVID-19 vaccines to states, pharmacies, and other vaccination sites.
The rollout marks the last stages of government-led efforts in COVID-19 immunization amid ongoing efforts to transition the purchases of vaccines and therapeutics to the commercial market.