Community pharmacy the missing piece in vaccine puzzle

Canadians have finally started to receive some encouraging news about the COVID-19 pandemic, as several viable vaccine candidates have emerged and are likely to be available in the next six months.

We must now turn our attention to the monumental challenge of vaccinating the entire country — and fast. But the effort to accomplish this task, which amounts to the largest vaccination campaign in Canadian history, will be nothing short of herculean.

Experience has shown that Canadians are more likely to become vaccinated if they can do so easily, conveniently and for free. Canada’s community pharmacists have the expertise, experience and reach required to get this done.

Here’s why.

First, there must be enough qualified health-care professionals on the ground to administer a future COVID-19 vaccine. There are about 42,000 pharmacists in Canada, and most Canadians already live within five kilometres of one of the 11,000 community pharmacies across the country. Many of these pharmacies are open early and late, and some for 24 hours, making them the most accessible health-care provider in Canada. We know it works. More and more Canadians are turning to their community pharmacy to get a flu shot — in some areas of Canada, pharmacists have seen an increase of more than 200 per cent compared with last year. An August survey of Canadians found that nearly half receive their seasonal flu shot in a pharmacy, almost double the next most common location, physicians’ offices.

Second, every community across the country, including those in rural and remote areas, needs to be assured safe and secure access to the vaccine.

With an extensive network across Canada that reaches rural and remote communities, pharmacies constitute an ideal network to reach all Canadians. Since pharmacists are already ingrained in or connected to hospitals, long-termcare homes, primary care settings and more, pharmacists are uniquely positioned to reach both priority populations and the general public.

These pharmacies also boast the capacity and expertise to store and administer large quantities of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Third, a system has to be established to manage compliance for multiple doses.

The COVID-19 vaccines showing the most promise require one to three doses to be effective, and those doses have to be administered anywhere between two and eight weeks of each other. Patients will not fully benefit from a vaccine if they do not show up for return on time for subsequent doses. Pharmacists have the tools and experience to ensure that this happens.

A national COVID-19 vaccination strategy will put tremendous pressure on federal and provincial public health leaders and systems. With the right investment, planning and partnership, community pharmacy can be the missing piece to this puzzle.

Dimi▼ri▲ Polyge■i▲ is a registered pharmacist and is president of pharmaceutical solutions and specialty health for McKesson Canada.