Canada's more than 11,500 pharmacies serve as vital community health hubs in virtually every community in Canada, and are ready to administer three million vaccines per week. Provinces should immediately enable pharmacies to offer additional vaccine to get more needles in arms.
Our position on pharmacy's role in COVID-19 Vaccination:
- Ability – Pharmacy is involved in administering and delivering mRNA vaccines in almost every province. The entire pharmacy sector has the experience and proven ability to store, handle, distribute and maintain the stability of all vaccines being distributed.
- Capacity – Pharmacies are vaccinating only 20 to 30 per cent of people, far below their capacity, in large part because they are not receiving an adequate supply of vaccine to administer.
- Increase Allocation – As incoming supply increases, we strongly encourage all provincial governments to allocate more vaccine to pharmacies. Community pharmacies have the capacity to do more and support their health sector partners – and, above all, their patients.
- Trusted Provider – Allowing pharmacies to vaccinate to their fullest potential will see more people vaccinated more quickly, in an environment where they are comfortable and with a provider they trust.
- Alleviate Pressures – We urge decision-makers to allocate more vaccines to pharmacies to alleviate pressures on mass vaccination clinics and free up the time and resources of other healthcare professionals.
We have partnered with the grassroots organization 19tozero to ensure an evidence-based approach to our advocacy on vaccination-related themes, including choice, access, flexibility, health equity and relationships with healthcare providers. With pharmacy leading COVID-19 vaccination efforts in many jurisdictions, more vaccine supply is needed in pharmacies to meet communities' demand and support people’s choice in where and how they get vaccinated.
Please refer to our other position statements and toolkits falling under the umbrella of positioning pharmacy as a community health hub.
