WASHINGTON (Eagle News) — Increasing vaccine supply and offering vaccines through select pharmacies nationwide were additional steps the White House announced today as part of its National Strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

These actions aim to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of administering 100 million shots in 100 days.

– Increasing vaccine supply –

As part of its plan, the White House will increase weekly vaccine supply to states, Tribes and territories to 10.5 million doses nationwide beginning this week. This is a 22% increase since Biden took office.

The administration said it is committed to maintaining this as a minimum supply level for the next three weeks.

– Vaccine in pharmacies on February 11 –

The White House also announced that starting February 11 people eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine will have the opportunity to get the shot at selected pharmacies across the U.S. through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for Covid-19 Vaccination.

The program is a public-private partnership with 21 national pharmacies in over 40,000 pharmacy locations.

“This will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities. And it’s an important component to delivering vaccines equitably,” said White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients.

He told reporters that because of supply constraints, the program would initially be limited to 6,500 participating pharmacies nationwide, before eventually expanding to 40,000.

Major chains like Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy, Walmart and Rite Aid are among those participating and the program.

(Eagle News Service)