Pharmacies stick it to their staffs
Kroger joins grocery chains and drugstores in vaccinating healthworkers ahead of rush
Pharmacy manager Nabeel Sattar took off his white coat, rolled up the short sleeve on his left arm and received his COVID-19 vaccine during a Wednesday press conference at a Kroger store on Studemont Street. Then, he slipped back inside his office and went back to work.
It’s been busy since the grocery chain received its first doses of the Moderna vaccine in Houston on Tuesday and began administering them — starting with pharmacy staff — managers said. Other area pharmacies are beginning to roll out vaccines as well, though not yet to the general public.
“Let’s just say demand is high,” said Derek David, pharmacy practice coordinator for Kroger, noting high call volume at area stores.
Armed with scant supply and facing logistical hurdles, pharmacies large and small are playing a role in themonumental task of inoculating millions of Houstonians. The rollout is spotty, analysts said, but it’s not something they can shy away from.
“It’s the right thing to do,” said Venky Shankar, research director for Texas A&M’s Center for Retailing Studies. “And they will have tremendous business gains as a result of this gesture.”
It’s an opportunity to build trust and loyalty, Shankar said. But first comes the task at hand.
Kroger leaders struck a cautious tone while informing the public that it has the vaccine at its Houston stores, pointing repeatedly to a scant supply that pales in comparison to demand. Kroger received 100 doses per store at 68 stores in the Houston area, said Clara Campbell, corporate affairs manager for the Cincinnati-based chain. The retailer is prioritizing health care workers within its own pharmacies and on Saturday will begin vaccinating school nurses who work for Houston ISD.
Kroger isn’t yet clarifying the mechanism which health care workers can use to request appointments, leaders said, citing supply.
“We’re concerned that our pharmacists are going to get overwhelmed,” Campbell said.
Kroger Houston is expecting more doses soon, David said, but decisions about howmany to allocate and when fall to officials who factor in elements such as proximity to at-risk communities.
“There are a lot of moving parts,” he said.
States are responsible for determining who gets priority in the COVID-19 rollout. On Thursday, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced it would create “vaccination hubs” at large pharmacies and hospitals to funnel the enormous demand for vaccines into a few key places.
H-E-B had immunized 28,000 Texans as of Tuesday and was scheduled to receive another 3,500 doses in its stores this
week, said Jeenal Nihalani, immunization coordinator for H-E-B Pharmacies in the Houston area.
H-E-B pharmacies are getting “a lot of calls” from health care workers and seniors looking to get in line for their doses, Nihalani said, noting H-E-B is still focusing solely on health careworkers.
“When we are given the guidance we’ll move into the next phase, which is phase 1B,” she said. “We’re strictly following the guidelines set by the state.”
Drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens were contracted by the federal government to vaccinate patients and staff at long-term care facilities. Those vaccination efforts are ongoing and are not yet open to the public, the retailers said.
Analysts said pharmacies and drugstores are some of the best candidates to roll out the vaccine. Most people stop by large pharmacies to pick up prescriptions and are familiar with the flu and shingles vaccines offered in-store, andmay turn to them for COVID-19 prescriptions.
“Pharmacists are one of themost accessible providers out there,” said Dr. Asim AbuBaker, associate dean for clinical and professional affairs at Texas A&M’s College of Pharmacy.
However, there may be a few problems in the rollout. Pharmacies have fewer clinicians that are approved to administer vaccines compared to hospitals, where theremay be doctors, nurses and physician’s assistants who can provide aid to vaccination clinics.
Many retailers administering the vaccine are beefing up their pharmacy staffs to handle the load. H-E-B has around 1,000 immunizers at 280 stores and aims to have 500 of its technicians become certified immunizers by month’s end, Nihalani said. Kroger is in the process of hiring nearly 1,000 health care personnel, including pharmacy technicians, to support administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Demand for the vaccine has put pressure on pharmacies large and small.
Joe Sullivan, owner of Sullivan Pharmacy in Galveston County, recorded a message telling customers calling about COVID-19 vaccines to please call back later.
“(We) have used up all of our allotted-COVID-19-vaccine at this time, if you’re calling about that. We will hopefully have more in in about two weeks so please call back then.”
Phones rang consistently in the background of his recording. A staffer answering the phone declined to comment, saying staff was “too busy giving vaccines right now.”
Steve Hoffart, owner of Magnolia Pharmacy in Magnolia, said he set up an online screening form to make sure his staff vaccinates according to state protocols. His pharmacy had administered 450 doses of the Moderna vaccine as of Thursday afternoon, he said.
While the timing of shipments has been uncertain, he said, the state reaches out a week before a shipment to confirm the pharmacy is prepared to handle the incoming volume. Once he confirmed his quantity, he said he began taking appointments online for the following week.
“We booked all 500 shots in the first eight hours,” he said.
It helps to book appointments in quantities of10, Hoffart said, since that’s how many doses are in each vial. Once a vial is punctured, pharmacists have about five hours to administer the vaccine before it spoils.
In case of missed appointments or cancellations, he said he keeps a short list of health care workers waiting for the vaccine. He’ll call them and tell them they need to be at the store within the hour. “We haven’t wasted any,” he said.
But these times are rare. “Almost nobody is canceling.”