CVS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Troy Brennan explained how the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine will actually work once one is approved.
Brennan told CNN’s Kate Bolduan that CVS is prepared to first administer vaccines to nursing facilities.
“Our plan is to be ready to go as early as December 15, waiting for the state approvals,” he said.
On Tuesday, vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to recommend that both health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities be first in line for any Covid-19 vaccine.
Brennan said vaccinations on a state-by-state basis will be “challenging,” because each state’s plan is expected to be different.
“Some states will say just vaccinate the people in the skilled nursing facility. Some states will want us to vaccinate not only the people in the skilled nursing facilities, but the health care workers in those facilities. … We're working directly with the states now to understand sort of what the parameters are,” he said.
Brennan also discussed the transportation and storage of the Pfizer vaccine. He said CVS will be using Pfizer’s special containers, utilizing dry ice to maintain the vaccine at very cold temperatures.
“We’re pretty comfortable that we're going to be able to store [the vaccine] for up to 20 days…simply by reloading these special containers with dry ice. So it sounds very difficult, but it turns out, from a logistic point of view, to be really quite trackable,” Brennan said.
He said once the vaccine is available to a wider population, people will need to make an appointment to receive it at stores. CVS will make phone calls and send texts to remind people about their second doses.
“We will keep after you to make sure you come back for that second vaccination,” he said.
Remember: The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, a panel of independent experts, will meet on Dec. 10 to review Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine candidate and make a recommendation about whether to authorize the vaccine.
A similar FDA committee meeting for Moderna's vaccine candidate is set for Dec. 17. FDA officials say their decisions on the vaccines could come days to weeks after the meetings — it depends on what questions come up.
See the interview on CNN:
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The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines: Live updates - cnn.com
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