Background: Community pharmacies are an important healthcare access point in the US, with 1,000+ pharmacies in Washington State, alone. However, it is not well-understood how suitable pharmacies’ geographic distribution is for COVID-19 mass vaccination. Specific geographies with gaps in access to pharmacy services are termed “pharmacy deserts,” which are defined as areas which are both low-income and have a low proportion of their population within a certain mile radius of any pharmacy. The objectives of this study are to identify pharmacy deserts and evaluate the association between pharmacy deserts and COVID-19 risk in local health jurisdictions (LHJs) within Washington State.

Methods: We conducted geospatial analyses and logistic regression to identify locations, characteristics, and correlates of pharmacy deserts in each LHJ with census tracts as the unit of analysis. Data came from the 2019 American Community Survey, addresses of licensed pharmacies, and the COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI).

Preliminary Results: Out of 1441 census tracts in Washington, we identified 198 that are pharmacy deserts. Of these, 60.6% are “high” or “very high” risk on the CCVI. Analyses of correlates of these pharmacy deserts are ongoing.

Conclusions: Communities with high prevalence of pharmacy deserts also tend to have high COVID-19-risk. In these low resource communities, public health organizations should implement alternative COVID-19 vaccine distribution approaches to improve access and health equity.