Sask. pharmacists looking for more details on vaccine plan

Many pharmacists in the province are ready and able to start giving out COVID-19 vaccines, according to the Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan.

Now they’re just waiting to find out where they fit into the province’s vaccination plan.

Dawn Martin, the CEO of the pharmacy association, said the province has been consulting with the association but she still hasn’t heard much in the way of details on the plan.

“We’re hoping to hear fairly shortly what the plan is for utilizing pharmacists fully in the whole system and the plan for getting this darn pandemic under control,” said Martin.

“(Pharmacists), for the most part, are currently ready, now, to be injecting the COVID vaccination. It’s just a case of the vaccine itself and whether or not the ministry and public health, the SHA, are able to get us the vaccine to start putting it into people’s arms.”

Martin believes pharmacists will be an integral part of the vaccination plan when eligibility opens up, and especially in rural areas where there may not be many options for getting a vaccination.

Since pharmacists have been able to give out things like flu shots, most if not all have the freezers necessary to store vaccines like Moderna which don’t have to kept quite as cold. Pharmacies don’t generally have ultra-cold freezers which are required to store the Pfizer vaccines, so those would likely be out of the question for most.

Martin acknowledges the whole situation is complicated and the province has been trying to work through a lot in the plan.

“This is such a massive challenge for the system as a whole and so we are certainly trying to be patient (and) trying to recognize that this is just unprecedented. But soon we really need some clarity and so we’re hoping that that happens in the next few weeks,” said Martin.

Pharmacists’ contracts with the province are also a question in all of this. Martin said they haven’t had a contract for almost two years and talks had to be put on hold because of the pandemic. She said they haven’t had formal contract discussions with the government since last February.

Martin said she hopes they can get the contracts settled soon because there are things in there that will help pharmacies administer vaccines.

“We’re hoping that we can get that done with the ministry ASAP so that our members have all of the resources that they need to do this as quickly as it needs to be rolled out,” said Martin.

She said they’re looking at things like money for personal protective equipment, and help with some of the costs incurred. Allowing pharmacists to give shots outside the pharmacy could facilitate possible vaccination clinics in a larger setting.

“More or less (we’re interested in) just making it easier for pharmacists to get additional space so they don’t have to have everybody trying to come in through the pharmacy — in many cases — where there’s not enough space to do that effectively and efficiently,” said Martin.

Martin also wants pharmacists to be added somewhere to the list of health-care workers getting the vaccine. She said of course COVID-care workers and those in long-term care homes need to be at the top, but she thinks pharmacists should be on the list so they can be protected when working with the public.

“We’d like to see a clear plan with other community health providers for vaccinations for our pharmacists,” Martin explained.