COVID-19 VACCINE
Q &A By Jordan Foster APA Director of Communications
In December 2020, as COVID vaccines slowly began to trickle into the state, Arkansas pharmacists stood ready to administer not just the much-anticipated vaccine but also a dose of hope that “normal life” or something close to it would return soon. Within weeks, the number of pharmacies receiving shipments of vaccines soared from double to triple digits, but the supply wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with the astronomical demand. It was clear early on that pharmacies would need to innovate their practices to adapt to such an unprecedented event. APA asked five pharmacies across the state to share their stories of change and how they adapted to a brand new world.
Strike Team Pharmacy
Woodsprings Pharmacy, Jonesboro Describe Woodsprings involvement as a strike team pharmacy. Lacey Hoggard: Woodsprings Pharmacy was asked to be a strike team pharmacy to distribute vaccine to 12 hospitals around the state. We made over 30 deliveries to hospitals for their front line workers. We are proud to have been asked to be a member of this initial team in distributing vaccine to Arkansas. We have enjoyed being a part of history as we helped coordinate with ADH and APA to come up with a distribution plan. What made you decide to become a strike team pharmacy? LH: When we were asked to be a strike team pharmacy, the answer was immediately “yes!” The world was enduring a pandemic and we were given a chance to help with the beginning of the solution, so we were eager to help in any way we could. We had previously purchased an ultra cold freezer when we heard that the Pfizer vaccine would require one for storage, so we were excited to be able to put it to use. Small and medium sized hospitals needed a way to be able to receive vaccine in smaller quantities that were less than a whole Pfizer tray so we were thrilled to be able to help front line workers have access to the vaccine!
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The strike team strategy involved an unprecedented level of collaboration between pharmacies. Are there any lasting effects from that collaboration? LH: Absolutely! When you have spent hours on calls and exchanged hundreds of text messages collaborating and planning strike team distributions, you have built relationships. We have reached out to several other strike team pharmacies multiple times since then about various COVID vaccine related questions (billing issues, mass clinic strategies, etc.) and also about other pharmacy related questions. It has been helpful to hear perspectives of other pharmacies and what is working well so we can see how we might adapt to better serve our patients and community. What do you know now that you wish you had known when you got your first shipment of COVID vaccines? LH: We knew that this was an unprecedented time in pharmacy and regulations/strategies were changing on a daily basis, but I think we underestimated how drastically the pharmacy dynamic would really change almost immediately. Woodsprings Pharmacy has been serving the Northeast Arkansas community for over 40 years and we were committed to still providing the best care to our patients and their medicine needs, even while taking on the new role of being a strike team pharmacy
AR•Rx
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THE ARKANSAS PHARMACIST
