About 40 Massachusetts supermarkets are partnering with the state to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to their pharmacies starting next week.
Wegmans is one of many supermarkets involved in the new vaccine deployment effort. The supermarket chain will also work with officials in New York and Pennsylvania to administer vaccines.
The state will also partner with grocery chains Big Y, Price Chopper, Stop & Shop and Hannaford to provide approximately vaccination sites starting Monday, the Baker administration said.
The increase in vaccination sites comes after the discovery of nearly 2,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine at Boston’s Jamaica Plain VA medical center after accidentally disconnecting the refrigerator where they were stored.
People in Boston responded to the loss of nearly 2,000 COVID-19 vaccines at VA Medical Center in Jamaica Plain.
This happens when more and more states say vaccines are running out. Many also claim that they did not have an adequate number of doses to begin with.
Anna Nagurney, a professor of operations management at UMass Amherst, an expert in supply chains, described the loss of 1,900 doses of vaccine at VA facilities as “unforgivable.”
The Biden administration sets a new target for vaccine distribution, as states face shortages and new strains of COVID-19 virus appear.
“You can’t make that happen,” Nagurney said. “We need better safety, we need better quality control, it can’t be someone’s thing to unplug the refrigerators, it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Replacement doses are on the way and there should be no interruption in vaccination efforts at Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center, according to VA officials.