Gaps feared if hospitals, pharmacies sole covid vaccine source

For example, a recent University of California, Irvine study identified “pharmacy deserts” in Los Angeles County, communities where the nearest pharmacy was at least a mile away. Some of these deserts included areas with denser populations, more Black and Latino residents, and greater poverty, potentially making it harder for these residents to get vaccinated. … “As the COVID-19 vaccines start rolling out, pharmacists will be key to the rapid and equitable distribution and administration of doses, just as they have been with COVID-19 testing,” said Jan D. Hirsch, founding dean of the UCI’s School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, said ….