CVS begins COVID-19 vaccinations in Virginia Friday

CVS will begin vaccinating people in Virginia on Friday, but according to local leaders – the effort may be causing more trouble than it’s worth.

"There is frustration," Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said Thursday. "I mean when you’re [vaccinating as many people] as we’re doing, when someone comes in and offers to do such a teeny-tiny portion, it would be great if they would coordinate with us so that we could get on the same page, we could message it out properly."

READ MORE: Problems reported as CVS begins registering COVID-19 vaccinations in Virginia

Here's why McKay is concerned: According to CVS, there are only a handful of locations that’ll be administering a limited supply of vaccines per day in Northern Virginia. That includes one location in Alexandria, one location in Arlington, one in Fairfax, one in Leesburg, and one in Stafford.

On top of that, a CVS spokesperson said each store will be able to vaccinate roughly 200 people per day at each of those locations – although McKay said he’s been told it’ll only be half that. That means CVS would be administering a relatively small number of vaccines, at least when compared to the more than 100,000 people who’ve already been vaccinated by Fairfax County, and yet the process has still created quite a bit of confusion.

READ MORE: CVS rolling out 250,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to pharmacies in 11 states

That’s mostly because – according to the Virginia Department of Health – CVS was unable to reserve vaccine appointments for people who’d already registered, leading to a free-for-all of sorts where many Virginians scrambled to sign up with CVS even though places like Fairfax County already have a waiting list of about 200,000 people.

Here’s How to Schedule COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment at a Virginia CVS

CVS Health is partnering with several local state and federal programs to help administer the COVID-19 vaccine to eligible populations. Appointments will be available as we receive vaccines from these programs.

CLICK HERE TO DETERMINE ELIGIBILITY AND SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT

You can also get help through a phone call to CVS customer service. Those without online access can contact CVS Customer Service at (800) 746-7287.

"Our folks here in the county are on the front lines vaccinating as many people as we possibly can," McKay explained. "If they’re gonna vaccinate 100 people a day willy-nilly, look, it helps because it reduces the number of people that we have to vaccinate, but it’s probably not worth the amount of confusion that it’s causing for folks."

Download the FOX 5 DC News App for Local Breaking News and Weather

McKay added that if you live in Northern Virginia and you’re eligible for the vaccine, his recommendation is to just sign up with your county and wait it out. He said that what does or does not happen with CVS will have no impact on that process.