U.S. to start sending COVID-19 vaccines directly to community health centers

U.S. to start sending COVID-19 vaccines directly to community health centers The U.S. government will begin shipping COVID-19 vaccines directly to community health centers next week in an effort to speed vaccinations and ensure doses are reaching vulnerable people, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday. Carl O’Donnell, Manas Mishra U.S.

(Reuters) - The U.S. government will begin shipping COVID-19 vaccines directly to community health centers next week in an effort to speed vaccinations and ensure doses are reaching vulnerable people, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday.

The government will send doses to 250 centers nationwide selected based on their proximity to vulnerable groups, such as homeless people and those with limited proficiency in English, they said. Typically, vaccine doses would go to state governments for distribution to health centers.

Eventually the effort will expand to more than 1,300 community health centers.

The federal government will initially distribute 1 million vaccine doses to the health centers and increase from there, they added. ...

The White House this week began coordinating shipments of vaccines directly to 6,500 pharmacies with the goal of reaching about 40,000.