CHARLOTTE — The CDC is working on a plan to make sure all areas -- especially rural -- are covered by the vaccine, and it involves Dollar General stores.
Dollar General has about 900 locations in North Carolina. They are in populated areas like Mint Hill, but they are also in more rural areas like Wadesboro.
“They are everywhere I am a truck driver, so I see them all over the place,” said James Caple, who was at the Dollar General in Stalling. “Every state I go into -- every town.”
This is a big deal because the only big box store in Wadesboro was a Walmart, which closed last year. That means people would have to drive at least 20 miles one-way to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The federal government is concerned about reaching rural Americans. Currently, the CDC is working with Dollar General for the stores to serve as vaccination sites.
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Dollar General has more than 16,000 locations nationwide. That’s about three times the number of locations as Walmart and more than half as many CVS and Walgreens, which are all authorized to distribute the COVID vaccine.
The key difference between those stores and Dollar General is Dollar General doesn’t have a pharmacy, but they do have refrigerators inside to store the vaccines.
Many of the locations are only 10 miles away or closer from the targeted areas the CDC wants to reach.
Right now, nothing is set in stone.
Cox Media Group
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