BRIDGE CITY, Texas — Walmart and Sam's Club are adding six Texas towns to their stores that will soon be offering COVID-19 vaccinations.
They will provide vaccines at the store pharmacies to people in phase 1a and 1b.
The closest location to Houston, so far, is Bridge City, which is east of Beaumont.
Walmarts in other cities are expected to be added to the list in the future.
"Expansion and appointments are dependent on the state allocation of vaccines," a Walmart spokeswoman said.
Walmarts with COVID vaccines
Bridge City, TX: 795 Texas Ave
Mansfield, TX: 930 N. Walnut Creek Dr, suite 800
Lancaster, TX: 150 N. I-35 East
Big Spring, TX: 201 W. Marcy Dr
Bastrop, TX: 488 Highway 71 W
Terrell, TX: 1900 W. Moore Ave
How to sign up
Walmart and Sam’s Club will launch online schedulers next week, so eligible residents can sign up directly from their website.
They are not offering walk-in vaccinations.
Helping underserved communities
Walmart is launching its vaccine efforts in so-called "health care deserts."
"These are mostly rural locations where there are very few options for customers to find health care," explained Dr. Cheryl Pegus, Walmart's executive vice president, health & wellness. "We have nearly 4,000 Walmart locations that are positioned within one or more of the federally designated medically underserved areas or where there are limited pharmacy options."
Walmart says they will also help underserved communities by holding COVID-19 vaccination events at third-party locations like churches, stadiums and youth centers.
Planning ahead
The company says they began working on their COVID-19 game plan last January.
"As soon as we heard about the speed at which COVID-19 was spreading toward the United States, we started planning immediately," said Senior Director, Health & Wellness Lisa Smith. "And when we learned the viral sequence of SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in January of 2020, we knew at that point researchers could start working on a vaccine."
Along with the six Texas towns, the other states and territories with vaccine rollouts at Walmart are:
- Arkansas
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- Puerto Rico
- South Carolina
- Washington, DC
You can check to see if you're in the groups eligible to receive the vaccines at the Texas state health department’s website.