“According to our estimates, about one in four neighborhoods are pharmacy deserts across the country,” said Dima Qato, an associate professor at the University of Southern California who studies pharmacy access and health equity. “These closures are disproportionately affecting communities that need pharmacies most.”
Pharmacies can be lifelines in rural or low-income areas, particularly in food deserts — areas that have limited access to healthy and affordable food. Pharmacists are often the most accessible health care professional for these communities, said Lorece Edwards, a professor of public health at Morgan State University who focuses on health disparities.
But for national pharmacy chains, retrenchment has been a long time coming, retail analysts say, as increased competition, changing consumer behaviors, retail crime, staffing shortages and minimal store investment come to a head. They’re also feeling a comedown from pandemic-era sales of coronavirus vaccines, at-home test kits and other products….