COVID vaccines present challenge for smaller pharmacies
Taking constant phone calls and entering names onto growing lists, deleting old names and re-arranging others after cancellations and no-shows, juggling a varying number of COVID-19 vaccines – this is what mom-and-pop pharmacies around the state have been doing along with their regular services.
“You might have to make a list of a thousand phone numbers, and a hundred of those have probably already gotten the vaccine,” said Jimmy Taylor, lead pharmacist at Don Chaucer’s Pharmacy in Hammond. “We’ve never done anything like this. You can’t just walk in and get a COVID vaccine like the flu. It’s a learning curve for all of us. If we have a heavy day, we have to bring in nurses to give the shots for me so I can keep running the pharmacy.”