Vaccine rollout: why the government needs Amazon and Walmart

One year later... A major vaccine rollout effort is underway to curb a virus which has killed 2M people globally and ~420K Americans so far. How it started: Since the US rollout began on December 14th, ~41M doses of Pfizer and Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines have been distributed. How it's going: just over 3M people have received the full two doses (less than 1% of Americans). Why so anticlimactic?

• Most of the rollout was left up to the states, which don't have enough health care staff and infrastructure to support the target pace.
• President Biden is aiming for 100M vaccinations in his first 100 days as prez. But Congress would need to approve his $1.9T proposal, which includes $20B to build federal vax sites, hire healthcare workers, and launch an education campaign.
• Some small countries with centralized healthcare are moving faster. Israel has vaccinated 42 people out of every 100, while the United Arab Emirates has vaccinated 25/100. Meanwhile, the US’s rate is 6/100 people, and China’s is barely 1/100 people.

Prime Vax this thing... Early in the pandemic, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to get companies like 3M to make masks and GM to make ventilators. Now, American companies are stepping up on their own to scale vax distribution:

• Walmart plans to offer the vaccine at 5K US locations, starting in seven states this week. It hopes to deliver 10M to 13M doses a month. 150M people already pass through its doors weekly.
• Amazon wrote a letter to Biden offering its logistical expertise. It also signed an agreement with a healthcare provider to administer vaccines at its US warehouses, and partnered with a Seattle hospital to offer vaccinations at its HQ yesterday.
• Starbucks, Costco, and Microsoft are partnering with the state of Washington to deliver vaccines to hospitals and vax sites.

What's in it for them?... Priority vaccination for employees, and goodwill with customers + the government. Amazon, Walmart, and Starbs have aggressively lobbied to gain early vaccine access for workers. Amazon and Walmart combined have 3M+ employees — vaccinating them reduces risk to their operations.