The vaccine will be available at 14 Walgreens and 7 CVS stores within the week, and health officials expect other pharmacies to join in.
Two CVS locations in Johnston and Providence will open registration for appointments on Saturday, and start administering the vaccine on Sunday. Another 5 CVS locations will open registration on Feb. 10 for slots the following day. In a statement, a spokesperson for CVS health said people could register online or call customer service to make an appointment. Walk-in vaccinations will not be available.
Walgreens will open registration for appointments Sunday at 7 a.m. and start vaccinating people on Feb. 9.
The state is also planning to send a batch of doses to cities and towns every week for four weeks starting Feb. 14. The 7,000 doses per week will be divided up based on population, and each community will be responsible for registering residents for shots.
And Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of Rhode Island’s health department, said the vaccine will eventually be available at five to ten state-run sites, as more doses become available.
“We’ve created a dispersed system like that intentionally,” said Alexander-Scott. “We want there to be many different access points because we want to be ready for when we’re getting enough vaccines to vaccinate everyone who wants to get vaccinated.”
Alexander-Scott said pharmacies and state and municipal sites will all use the same eligibility criteria.
