As Covid vaccines roll out, some independent pharmacies are left waiting

While several large pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens administer the new Covid vaccine, individual pharmacy owners report that they are having to wait longer to get their shipments and so their patients are having to wait longer to be vaccinated. 

Neal Smoller, the owner of a Village Apothecary, an independent pharmacy in Woodstock, New York, said he got Moderna vaccine enough over the above weekend, but Pfizer got it only on Wednesday. He added that there is still no specific schedule on the delivery of the vaccines, especially the Novavax which was recently approved by the FDA last Friday. 
 
That is why Smoller said that Laboar Day is a slowed time of the year for vaccinations. As per now, he has vaccinated around 400 people over this holiday weekend mostly elderly people who are apprehensive about the rise of the virus in summers and teachers who are going to resume their duties soon. 
 
Some, he said are waiting for either the Pfizer or the Novavax vaccine to be taken to the pharmacy. 
 
“We are big vaccinators, and even for us and trying to calm everyone down that the vaccine will be there it is still crazy,” Smoller said. “On the patient side, there is much fear and uncertainty There are countless calls being made to decide, ‘Am I allowed to get the vaccine? I have heard it was authorized. ’” 
 
Pharmacists that NBC News interviewed said the delays are because manufacturers and wholesalers give priority to big retail chains like CVS and Walgreens, comments that both Pfizer and Moderna disputed. 
 
Moderna is committed to meeting its distribution obligations, a spokesman said, from retail to doctors’ offices and community health clinics. 
 
A Pfizer official commented on the record that, the company has enough stock of the new Covid vaccine and its millions of doses have been shipped and delivered to various countries; all orders are met and shipped as soon as they are ordered, within days. 
 
Both drugmakers agreed that the acquiring vaccines through wholesalers might take slightly longer. 
 
The two largest pharmacy chains in the united state CVS and Walgreens’ representatives said they respectively have enough of the vaccines. 
 
Patients holding out 
 
Powell Pharmacy is an independent pharmacy owned by Emlah Tubuo and is the only one of its kind in Powell which is a small city seven miles north of Columbus in Ohio. Many retail chains cannot take a person in without an appointment to get a shot, she added, but hers is different, and everyone can just walk in. 
 
Tubuo said that doses of both Pfizer and Moderna have been purchased but none have been delivered yet. She said she is expecting to receive the shipments this week at some point. 
 
“What happens is that the chain pharmacies are usually the initial ones to receive them whilst the independent pharmacies are usually the last to receive them,” Tubuo said. “We really do not like it. ” 
 
Media outlets reported about such patients who would otherwise have received the flu shot earlier to be waiting until they get it concurrently with the Covid shot. 
 
“We received many calls and I said the others should just call back for advice on what to do. ” “Our plan was to coadminister since we have been informing the public that it is acceptable to receive both vaccines at once. ” 
 
Jonathan Marquess, the Academy of Independent Pharmacy in Georgia, said in general, most of the independent pharmacies have received vaccines in his state, but potentially one or two may still be waiting for them. 
 
“I think most independents are receiving them earlier this year,” he said, but noted that the problem seems to be more of an issue with Pfizer doses. 
 
Skippack Pharmacy owner Mayank Amin, from Pennsylvania, said he has already administered thousands of doses of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. 
 
Amin told me he is probably one of the few who succeeded — his pharmacy only deals with vaccines, and he stressed that this is the only way: the constant calls to the manufacturers and follow-ups to ensure that the vaccine doses are ready and delivered. 
 
“If it is like that then how come you have to do that,” said he. “The chain pharmacies, they obviously have someone that’s their direct link to Moderna, direct link to Pfizer, saying, ‘Make sure we get these vaccines. ” For us, it’s every man for himself. ” 
 
However, other small pharmacies have not been so lucky as the above mentioned and they are still waiting. 
 
Mr Emmanuel Ayanjoke who administers Altev Community Pharmacy in Cincinnati revealed that he has not been supplied with doses of the Moderna vaccine. :He did not order the Pfizer’s vaccine. 
 
Some doctor’s offices have been referring their patients to the pharmacy since August, he noted, and so he has been gathering contact information and will contact the clients when the vaccine comes in. 
 
“It seems to me that Bridgewater and the surrounding area is going to get the vaccine this week,” he said.