Kroger to Provide COVID-19 Vaccinations

Kroger Health operates 2

Kroger Health says it will be inoculating people with the COVID-19 vaccine at its 2,200 pharmacies and 220 clinics nationwide.

The company says it will also be looking to hire pharmacy technicians to help administer the treatment.

With the Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of emergency use for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus immunizations, Kroger Health said it will take a phased approach in delivering the vaccines, starting with priority populations as defined by federal and state governments

“The size and scale of our health care operation provide us with the unique ability to efficiently facilitate COVID-19 testing and immunize a large portion of the U.S. population, once the authorized vaccines become more widely available,” said Colleen Lindholz, Kroger Health’s president.

Kroger says it has been working closely with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense as well as the pharmaceutical companies and other businesses to prepare for vaccine authorization.

The company plans to hire nearly 1,000 health care personnel, including pharmacy technicians, to support operations and the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Kroger Health says it has facilitated more than 250,000 COVID-19 tests since April. In October it launched rapid antibody tests to help inform patients if they may have been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2.