CVS Health Corporation (CVS)

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CVS to Administer COVID-19 Vaccines in 6 More States
By: TheStreet | February 24, 2021

• CVS Health will give nearly 570,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine across 17 states through the latest allocation from the federal government.

Drugstore chain CVS Health (CVS) said on Wednesday that it will begin offering COVID-19 vaccines in six additional U.S. states, adding to the 11 states it began administering the vaccine to on Feb. 11.

It said appointments for its latest allocation of approximately 570,000 doses will start to become available for booking today, with shots beginning Feb. 25.

Shares of CVS were rising 0.15% to $69.75 at last check on Wednesday morning.

CVS has added Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida and Louisiana to its list of states where CVS pharmacy stores will offer COVID-19 vaccinations.

"Feedback on every aspect of the vaccination process has been incredibly positive, from the digital experience to interacting with our team of health care professionals," said President and Chief Executive Karen Lynch in a statement.

On Feb. 11, CVS began giving vaccines at its pharmacies in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, as well as in several long-term care facilities.

So far, 65 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine in total have been administered in the U.S., according to Bloomberg.

The U.S. has had more than 28 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and 500,000 people have died from the disease, according to data from Johns Hopkins.

Some 6,500 pharmacies in all 50 states -- including those at CVS, Walmart (WMT) and regional grocers -- started receiving doses from the federal government earlier this month.

CVS said it will continue to expand to additional states while increasing the number of stores offering vaccinations. CVS Pharmacy has the capacity to administer 20 million to 25 million shots per month and has nearly 10,000 pharmacies across the country.

A week ago, the pharmacy chain posted fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded analysts' expectations.

CVS reported adjusted earnings of $1.30 a share, down 25% from the same period last year, on revenue of $69.55 billion. Analysts were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.24 a share on sales of $68.7 billion.

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