Some large US pharmacies will not check ID before administering COVID-19 vaccines

CHICAGO / NEW YORK (Reuters) – Many US pharmacies, including Kroger Co-Supermarket and CVS Health Corp’s drugstore chain, say they will not check IDs before administering COVID-19 vaccines. Leave the open to complete the state guidelines to jump the line.

While the United States has delivered more than 30 million vaccine doses, slightly more than 11 million were administered as of Thursday, a hiatus that led U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar to vaccinate the states with vulnerable older populations and some older people Motivated to call to begin. Health status for getting more vaccines in arms.

US retailers choose to strictly enforce state eligibility rules with identity checks on the site, or rely on an honor system that may allow people to ignore those guidelines but at the same time keep more people inactive Can do.

A Kroger spokesman said, “State and local guidelines vary among the 40 public health jurisdictions we serve, but in most cases, identification will not be required to receive the vaccine.” The largest US grocery chain has so far applied approximately 7,800 COVID-19 vaccines to health workers and nursing home employees and residents.

Twenty-two states have made the move toward using age as the main criterion to prioritize vaccination, with four more set next week. Others follow strict guidelines to assure that the supply of coronovirus vaccine went to first health workers, nursing home residents, and first responders.

Teachers and other “essential workers” are about to join the front line as distribution widows, but those who qualify as essential workers vary by state.

“We are not planning to ask for an ID to receive a COVID-19 vaccination,” said a CVS health spokesperson. “These vaccinations will only take place in our shops and patients will have already gone through an eligibility check when they register for an appointment on our website, through our app or via the 1-800 number.”

However, the accuracy of information provided in eligibility checks conducted by some companies is not automatically checked at the vaccination sites.

The Walgreens Boots Alliance said it would follow state and local guidance on how to verify eligibility.

Hi-V, which operates grocery stores and pharmacies in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin and other Midwestern states, said it included its own warning on its website that IDs before giving shots – or No – can be asked for. . “We have not had any problems so far,” a spokesperson said.

Stop & Shop Supermarket, located in the northeast United States, said it would check IDs or pay stubs if instructed to do so by individual states. Publix Super Markets, which operates in Florida and other southeastern states, said people must provide “proof of insurance and / or their driver’s license or social security card.”

“Bring them to ARMS”

In Washington DC, which relies on pharmacy chains Safeway and Giant Food to operate vaccines, it is unclear who confirms the status of people’s healthcare workers.

A district website allowing health workers to register for the vaccine states that they will be verified during a pharmacy appointment through their work ID badge or employer letter.

But Giant Food said in a statement that it was checking the photo ID and insurance card of someone who got the appointment through the district’s website.

A DC Health Department spokesman said the vaccination team would raise the issue with Giant Food. Albertson Companies Inc., parents of Safeway, did not respond to requests for comment.

An infectious disease specialist from Vanderbilt University’s medical school, Dr. William Scheffner attributed the lack of planning to local guidance for the chronic underfading of the US health system with the ongoing epidemic strain.

Scheffner said the solution was to increase the availability of the vaccine and to hire more vaccinators.

“The more vaccines you have, the less you have to worry about priority,” Scheffner said. “We know it’s not quite right, but who cares, we need to get them up in arms.”