More options are on the horizon for those looking to get the COVID-19 vaccine in New Jersey. State residents will soon be able to get the vaccine at CVS and Rite Aid pharmacies.

CVS has not yet announced which locations will carry the vaccine, but an online sign up system is expected to open on Thursday. Shots will be administered beginning on Friday.

New Jersey residents have had a hard time getting appointments for the vaccine. But now that the federal government is sending vaccine doses directly to those pharmacies, things may get a little easier. The doses at the pharmacies are in addition to the ones already allocated for New Jersey.

CVS reports that it will get close to 20,000 vaccine doses per week to administer in 27 different New Jersey locations.

Rite Aid has not yet released details on its vaccine program. A spokesperson says that they have already been administering the state-allocated doses and are prepared to administer more when they get additional doses from the federal program.

Many in the retail pharmacy industry say that pharmacies are the perfect set up for vaccine distribution because their staff is already trained and they are used to giving out other vaccines.

Local independent pharmacists are hoping that they will soon be eligible to administer COVID vaccines in the near future.