ST. ALBERT - Pharmacies across St. Albert said the demand for COVID vaccines is high this fall, but no one should be deterred from getting the shot when it rolls out later this month.
The busy vaccine season comes as the province announced a cut to funding pharmacies used to receive for doing COVID assessments. Until last week, pharmacies could bill the province $20 per COVID assessment for up to five assessments a day.
Nicole Schettler, pharmacist and owner of Nicole’s Pharmacy, said now kids are back in school and respiratory illness season has begun, she is receiving up to four or five COVID-related calls a day.
Callers want to know how to use COVID test kits, how to get the antiviral medication Paxlovid, and whether they have symptoms that match COVID-19. The calls can take up to 20 minutes.
“COVID really changed the way [pharmacists’] jobs look,” Schettler said. “Now that there’s a shortage of physicians, we’re largely expected to take on a primary care role.”
Pharmacists often check for things like pinkeye and other minor illnesses when patients don’t have family doctors or don’t have time to visit a walk-in clinic or emergency room, according to Schettler.
She said that she is also receiving a call an hour, if not more, from people curious about COVID and flu vaccines. She estimates she is doing five times more work today than she did 10 years ago.
“It’s a bonkers time in pharmacy,” she said.
Last week, the province announced it would reduce the fees that pharmacies can charge the province for administering vaccines to $17 from $25 ahead of the Oct. 16 vaccine rollout. Premier Danielle Smith’s government changed its tune last Wednesday and postponed the fee cut until Jan.1. In April, the province plans to reduce fees to $13, the amount pharmacies receive for giving flu shots.
Schettler was relieved to hear the province is delaying the fee cut until January, as she feared having to reduce the hours of a part-time staff member who manages injections.
“I’m disappointed the reduction has been made to match flu injections, given that [COVID injections] are way more work,” she said. “You’ve got to use it within so many hours of opening, some of them require reconstitution … and you’re trying to book your appointments so you’re not wasting doses.
“I don’t know what we’ll do come the new year," Schettler said. "[We’ll] look at what the demand looks like and decide whether we’re continuing to offer them. We likely will, because pharmacists are like that. We want to take care of the public.”
For John Abdelmalak, pharmacist at Bellerose Compounding Pharmacy, the problem is a lack of consultation.
He said the transition would be easier if the government was willing to bargain instead of cutting funding for things like COVID assessments outright. For example, pharmacies could negotiate to place restrictions on who can perform and bill for COVID assessments at the pharmacy, he said.
“COVID is a very special situation,” he said. “It made the whole world panicked. We have to make sure patients are aware of the virus, what it can do to our body, complications and what’s going to be the effect of the vaccine. It takes a lot of time from us, a lot of effort.”
He said doing this work can add an extra 1.5 to two hours to his regular duties as a pharmacist.
As the lineup for COVID and flu vaccines grows, Abdelmalak said he is doing everything he can to make sure visitors to his pharmacy get their shots quickly. Visitors can book a shot at his pharmacy online through the Alberta Vaccine Booking System, and he is also accepting walk-ins.
The Gazette reached out to Health Minister Adriana LaGrange's office for comment but did not hear back before deadline.
