Conn. pharmacist feels heartbreak, hope amid COVID

Being a community pharmacist is all about connecting with patients.

Laks Pudipeddi, 45, has learned this over his 17 years as a pharmacist, 12 of which have been spent at Bridgeport Pharmacy, where he is now a pharmacist and part owner. His patients need him, he said. They need him to walk them through how to take their medication. They need his knowledge. They need his support.

“The community pharmacy is about one-on-one interaction with patients and talking to them,” said Pudipeddi, who lives in Monroe.

But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pudipeddi has seen that personal connection fade.

Patients have been afraid to come in because of the virus, he said. Or they’ve been afraid to go to the doctor to get their prescriptions renewed. As a result, he’s not only losing touch with his patients, but he knows they’re getting sicker.

“Patient care has been greatly affected,” he said. “I’ve been seeing big gaps in prescription refills. Many of my patients have passed away.”

Some of those died from COVID complications. Others, he said, died because they didn’t properly refill their medications, or otherwise weren’t able to take care of themselves during the pandemic.

Whatever the cause, Pudipeddi said, it hurts.

“You build these relationships over the years,” said Pudipeddi. “Basically, you’re spending the bulk of your days taking care of patients.”

But Pudipeddi, like many others, is optimistic about a possible light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of the two vaccines now being rolled out across the country. As a health care provider, he was able to receive his first dose of the Moderna vaccine on Dec. 23 at the Fairfield Health Department.

Pudipeddi said he has applied to the state for vaccine doses, and hopes to receive them in time to begin vaccinating patients in group 1B.

Though he knows that there are people — some of his own customers included — who are worried about the potential side effects of the vaccine, he said his own experience has been positive. Pudipeddi said he has had no side effects from the vaccine, other than some soreness at the injection site.

“I would take that any day over COVID,” he said.

Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Laks Pudipeddi, pharmacist at Bridgeport Pharmacy on East Main Street, poses with a flu vaccine at the shop in Bridgeport on Oct. 29. Currently, there is a shortage of high-dose flu vaccine for senior citizens, especially at independent pharmacies like this one.