Former FDA head highlights pharmacy’s potential in COVID-19 vaccine delivery

Scott Gottlieb, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner has started the New Year off by taking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and The Wall Street Journal, urging the federal government to leverage pharmacies to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine delivery.

"National pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens have an agreement with the federal government to provide vaccines to long-term care facilities. The government should expand this program to help vaccinate all Americans," said Gottlieb.

Gottlieb noted that the major pharmacy chains combined can deliver up to 100 million vaccines a month. "The plan had been to allow large retailers to start offering the shot when it was ready for the general public, perhaps later in the spring. Why not get started now? Public-health agencies can focus their resources on providing access to harder-to-reach communities and patients who might be homebound,” Gottlieb said.