Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. ‘s role in administering Covid-19 vaccines helped lift its sales and profit in the latest quarter, but the drugstore chain said Thursday it is expecting a sharp slowdown in shots this summer.
Walgreens, based in Deerfield, Ill., said it has now given more than 25 million Covid-19 vaccinations. Walk-in appointments, employer partnerships and mobile clinics have contributed to those efforts, Walgreens said.
On a conference call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer James Kehoe said that Walgreens’s role in vaccinations likely peaked in the March-to-May quarter. In June through August, the company expects to give about 7 million vaccinations, compared with about 17 million last quarter.
Shares fell 6% Thursday morning.
Vaccinations contributed last quarter to a recovery in Walgreens’s pharmacy operations and have helped support front-of-store sales, or sales of nonpharmacy items. Prescriptions filled rose by 9.8% in the latest quarter on a comparable basis, including a 6% contribution from Covid-19 vaccines. Improved store traffic played a part in 1.7% comparable growth in retail sales, the company said.
