Gov. Spencer Cox applauded a decision by two providers in the federal pharmacy partnership, CVS and Walgreens, to transfer extra doses the pharmacies have to other vaccine providers in Utah.
The governor and his team have been working closely with Walgreens and CVS to transfer a portion of their allocated doses to other vaccine providers in the state. Today, the two pharmacies agreed to provide 28,275 doses to the Utah Department of Health for distribution throughout the state. The state received an initial shipment of 8,775 doses this week with the remaining 19,500 doses ordered this week and shipped to Utah next week.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which oversees the federal contract with pharmacies, approved the reallocation.
“Our top priority is to get as many vaccines into the arms of Utahns as quickly as possible,” Cox said. “We’re grateful to our partners Walgreens and CVS as well as the CDC for their help in meeting this goal.”
In addition, the Biden administration announced its plan to purchase 200 million doses of vaccine. In response, Gov. Cox issued the following statement:
“We are excited by the Biden administration plan to purchase 200 million doses of vaccines, 100 million doses each of Pfizer and Moderna. This is exactly what our state has been asking for. More doses mean more Utahns are protected from the ravages of COVID-19. The vaccines are safe and are effective.
“The president also announced a plan to use the Defense Production Act to ramp up the production of vaccines and the ancillary supplies, such as syringes, vials, gloves and more.
“We agree with President Biden that masking up will save lives. He has asked all Americans to mask up for the next 100 days. This fits with Utah’s statewide mask mandate. If you are around others, please wear a mask.”
