CVS Health said Friday that it allows pharmacists to give extra coronavirus vaccine doses to people outside the state’s eligibility criteria, if no one over age 65 is available to take the shot.
The statement comes one day after The Public’s Radio reported that the Woonsocket-based company was limiting the use of leftover vaccine doses to people who are 65 and older.
CVS spokesman Matthew Blanchette told The Public’s Radio on Thursday that “we do not provide vaccines outside of state eligibility guidelines.”
When asked what the company does with leftover doses if no one over 65 is available at the end of the day, Blanchette said the doses are “disposed of.”
But in an email on Friday, senior CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis said, “we empower our pharmacy teams to use their judgment to ensure that no vaccine goes to waste.”
He said this includes giving extra shots to younger people. He said that CVS pulls from “our large population of eligible patients and our frontline employees” to use up open vaccine vials.