"It's a big learning curve for us, for sure, but we're proud to be part of the process of bringing down the virus."
Article content
As soon as it became public that Lakeshore Pharmacy would be offering COVID-19 vaccines, Brian Gray’s phone started ringing.
“The phone’s been off the hook pretty much all day for the last week already with people wanting to book times, so it’s been unfortunate that we can’t book everybody in who wants to come in,” said Gray, who is the pharmacy manager.
Lakeshore Pharmacy is one of 63 pharmacies in 14 communities the province announced Monday would be part of a pilot project, allowing pharmacies to do a trial run administering COVID-19 vaccines.
Just four hours after the list of participating pharmacies had been revealed, all 150 of Lakeshore’s available appointments had been filled as phone calls poured in. The calls didn’t stop when the appointments ran out though, and Gray said he has had to turn a lot of people away.
Participating pharmacies are receiving a small shipment of Pfizer vaccine doses on Thursday.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Gray said he and his staff have spent the last two weeks preparing to receive the doses and training staff.
“It’s been pretty chaotic as we quickly gear up and prepare for the type of documentation that we’re going to need to keep track of the vaccines,” he said, noting each pharmacy is responsible for making sure the vaccines are properly stored and administered before they expire.
On top of learning about how the Pfizer doses need to be stored, each pharmacy has had to develop its own booking system since pharmacy appointments cannot be booked through the province’s regular booking system. Staff have had to learn about the vaccine eligibility rules and a variety of vaccine risk factors.
“It’s a big learning curve for us, for sure, but we’re proud to be part of the process of bringing down the virus,” Gray said.
Vaccine appointments are currently open to anyone ages 42 and up across the province. On Friday, the eligible age drops to anyone ages 40 and up. Priority groups such as police, firefighters and teachers also become eligible on Friday.
Dawn Martin, CEO of the Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan (PAS), said demand has been high for appointments at all of the listed pharmacies.
“There’s a fairly large pent-up demand for that limited supply between new age categories and all of the priority populations,” she said.
By the middle of next week, Martin expects to see anywhere from 100 to 170 pharmacies begin offering the vaccine as Saskatchewan receives more doses.
Advertisement
Story continues below
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Once the vaccine rollout scales up to include all of Saskatchewan’s nearly 400 pharmacies, Martin said pharmacies could administer around 70,000 doses per week.
But pharmacies need to balance vaccine delivery with other duties. Between the preparations over the last few weeks and the next few months of administering vaccines, Martin said staff burnout is a concern.
“Every health provider out there is tired already and now we’ve got this big huge push,” she said.
“We’ve got to be careful to manage all of the other things that patients need from pharmacists … and then of course, right on that horizon is another flu season as well.”
The news seems to be flying at us faster all the time. From COVID-19 updates to politics and crime and everything in between, it can be hard to keep up. With that in mind, the Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox to help make sure you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
Sask. pharmacies seeing COVID-19 vaccine slots get snapped up fast - Regina Leader-Post
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment