Starting this week, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be available at Kingston pharmacies.
KFL&A’s medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore announced last week that the vaccines would be shipped into the region and administered at pharmacies in the coming weeks.
“We hope to see potentially 8,000 doses coming to pharmacies,” the chair of the Ontario Pharmacists Association, Jen Baker, says.
Kingston’s AstraZeneca vaccine supply that was administered in pharmacies was exhausted a few weeks ago. Since the pilot project, and the recent pause in AstraZeneca use, there haven’t been any more vaccines provided to pharmacies.
With the switch in products, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will have to learn how to administer these doses.
With Pfizer vaccines, “pharmacies will have five days to use those doses that arrive so you will see the pharmacies that are vaccinating with Pfizer turn those around very quickly because of the need to with the storage of that product,” Baker says.
“Moderna is a little bit more forgiving. There is a 28-day window that pharmacies could use that product.”
Pharmacies will be waiting until they have the vaccine in hand to offer confirmed appointment times. Baker says they’ll be starting off with those who already registered earlier this year for the shot.
Baker says because of the opening of availability in the public health clinics and the doses in pharmacies, people will be on multiple lists. Once those people are vaccinated, there will be a noticeable drop across the board.
Meanwhile, Kingston has reached a milestone in vaccinating those aged 60 and over.
“I always felt that we would have a high immunization rate in KFL&A. And to have that number, 90 per cent of 60s and over immunized, I think is brilliant,” Moore says.
KFL&A has administered over 110,000 doses in the region.
Comments