Cindy Esford was part of the vaccination pilot program in KFL&A, where she received her first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. All was well until this week when the pharmacy she initially went to told her they wouldn’t be able to give a second dose.
“They have no idea whether they’re getting any doses at all,” Esford said. “They’ve been kind but that’s the way it’s been.”
In Kingston, according to KFL&A Public Health, there were initially 13 Shoppers Drug Marts offering the first dose of AstraZeneca, but that number has fallen to three for the second dose. As for Loblaw’s and No Frills, which are owned by the same corporation as Shopper’s Drug Mart, none of the five locations will be offering the second dose of AstraZeneca.
While there may be fewer locations offering the second dose, the CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association says there’s no reason to worry about a shortage.
“We have supply coming in, a new batch, there’s 250,000 approximately sitting in a provincial depot that will be re-allocated to pharmacies and we will be following up with these appointments,” Ontario Pharmacists Association CEO, Justin Bates said. “So this is a very limited time, and it’s obviously a limited number of soon-to-be-expiring AstraZeneca.”
Ontario’s solicitor general agrees there’s no need to worry.
“We have a very limited supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine that is set to expire at the end of May and we want to make sure to offer that to people in Kingston,” Ontario solicitor general, Sylvia Jones said.
Still, Esford believes the process could have gone a little smoother so as to not leave her and many others scrambling at the last minute.
“My personal feeling is it needs to be streamlined,” Esford said. “It’s unfair to those of us who took that immunization thinking we were helping our province and our local KFL&A in getting vaccinated.”
In the end, Esford was able to secure her second dose from a different pharmacy, but she knows not everyone will have the same luck.