White House Launches Pilot Program To Ship Coronavirus Vaccines Directly To ‘Select’ Pharmacies

White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients announced a number of changes to the federal government’s COVID-19 response policies Tuesday, including the launch of a new pilot program shipping vaccines directly to pharmacies across the U.S.

In addition to the new vaccine pilot program, Zients told reporters during a White House coronavirus briefing that the government is again increasing the amount of vaccines shipped to states and territories every week. This roughly 5 percent increase follows a 16 percent weekly increase announced in late January.

Furthermore, Zients noted that President Joe Biden has approved Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to backdate reimbursement for states’ pandemic responses dating back to the beginning of the pandemic. He estimated the policy change would cost between $3-5 billion, but would not require Congress to allocate additional funds in the next coronavirus stimulus package.