Pharmacies are eligible to enroll in the VFC program if state law grants them the authority to administer vaccines by prescription, vaccine protocol, or prescribing authority.
Pharmacists must meet all other general VFC requirements including agreeing to vaccinate all “walk-in” VFC eligible children. “Walk-in” refers to any VFC-eligible child who presents requesting a vaccine, not just established patients. “Walk-in” does not mean that a provider must serve VFC patients without an appointment. If a pharmacy or provider’s office policy is for all patients to make an appointment to receive vaccinations, then the policy would apply to VFC patients as well.
Enrolled provider locations such as pharmacies and off-site vaccination clinics are not required to offer all vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) for the populations that they serve. Instead, they may offer limited types of VFC ACIP-recommended vaccines, such as influenza vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine, or both, to VFC-eligible children. Award recipients have the discretion to determine these offerings.
Other “Specialty Providers” can include, but are not limited to:
- Birthing facilities (e.g., birthing hospitals or centers)
- Obstetrician/gynecologists (OB/GYNs)
- Providers who serve adolescents in nontraditional environments (e.g., long-term juvenile correctional facilities, family planning, and sexually transmitted disease [STD]/human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] clinics)
- School-located vaccination clinics*
- Urgent Care Centers*
NOTE: “Specialty Provider” is defined as a provider that only serves:
- A defined population due to the practice specialty (e.g., obstetrician/gynecologist [OB/GYN], sexually transmitted disease [STD], family planning)
- A specific age group within the general population of children ages 0–18 years
Resources
- Vaccines for Children
- CDC Vaccine Price List
- Vaccines Provided by the VFC Program
- Immunization Schedules
- Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
- CDC You Call the Shots
- Filing VAERS Reports
- Resources to Promote the VFC Program
- VFC Operations Guide
- Immunization Quality Improvement for Providers (IQIP)
- AR WebIZ Help Desk
- Immunize Action Coalition