Giant Eagle, Rite Aid tapped as covid vaccine providers

Giant Eagle pharmacies will be part of the effort to get more covid-19 vaccine to the public as more and more doses become available, Pennsylvania health officials announced this week.

TopCo Associates, which runs Giant Eagle’s pharmacies, was tapped by the Department of Health, along with Rite Aid, to provide vaccines to people as they become eligible. For now, the only Pennsylvanians eligible for the vaccine are frontline health care workers and nursing home residents and staff.

People 75 and older were set to become eligible in Phase 1B of Pennsylvania’s vaccination plan, but federal health officials earlier in the week recommended lowering the eligibility to those 65 or older.

“We are committed to ensuring that vaccine is getting to Pennsylvanians as quickly as manufacturers get it to us,” Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said in a statement. “Both of these partnerships will help vaccinate our most vulnerable residents and the people who care for them more quickly so that we can move to other groups in our communities.”

To start, about 110 TopCo-owned pharmacies in the state and 60 Rite Aid locations will start providing vaccines to those covered by Phase 1A. In addition to Giant Eagle, TopCo services Price Chopper, Redner’s Markets, ShopRite, Tops Markets, Weis Markets and Wegman’s Food Markets.

Levine stressed the state remains in Phase 1A, and the state’s supply of vaccine is limited. She urged providers to make sure they’ve vaccinated health care providers — including those who are unaffiliated with a specific health care system — before they move to other phases.

Plans to vaccinate older Pennsylvanians could come next week, state officials said.

Rite Aid and TopCo locations offering the vaccine will appear on a map starting next week on the Department of Health website.

“We are prepared to administer the vaccine to the general population as soon as government authorities make the vaccine available for broader distribution,” said Vic Vercammen, Giant Eagle chief pandemic officer. “Nearly every one of our 700 Giant Eagle pharmacists is a licensed vaccinator, with experience handling a variety of vaccines such as seasonal flu, shingles and pneumococcus.”