Hundreds of Pharmacies across Quebec will start administering COVID-19 Vaccines starting on Monday in an attempt to speed vaccination. The strategy to use pharmacists in administering the vaccine was adopted to boost the daily number of shots given.
Nabil Chikh has three vaccination stations in his Cote-des-Neiges Pharmaprix. Those who will receive the vaccine at the site must register first before being given a shot. A jab of the Moderna vaccine will then be administered, after which they wait for fifteen minutes to ensure that no complications arise.
In Montreal, 350 pharmacies are expected to take part in the vaccination program. According to Caroline Quach, an infectious disease specialist at Ste-Justine Hospital, Pharmacies would be much convenient than the mass vaccination sites that are already operational.
Chikh estimates that he can administer 100 shots in a day; at the moment, his current supply is 100 doses. He added that they expect more doses to be accessible for people to be inoculated sooner.
“Within the next two weeks, if we don’t have doses, we will probably be sending more time mitigating expectations and expectations and explaining why we don’t have doses than actual time spent vaccinating”.
Quach recommends that people receive the vaccine at a pharmacy except those who are highly allergic, and intervention may be needed after a shot.
