Missed your COVID-19 vaccine, Montrealers? You may get a call from your pharmacist

Calgary pharmacists feel forgotten after the province announced that it is sending millions of masks and other personal protection equipment to other provinces while Alberta pharmacies are short-stocked

Montreal — Pharmacists have some special qualities that could make them Montreal’s secret weapon in the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign, they say.

They tend to know their clients well, but it goes beyond that—they can also see who’s missed their shot.

“It’s possible for us to go in patients’ files and produce lists of patients and… call them directly and say, ‘Hey, it's your turn. Get vaccinated,” said Jean Bourcier, a vice-president of a Quebec pharmacy owners’ association, the AQPP.

Pharmacies in Montreal joined the vaccination campaign this week, so far just by opening up their appointment slots. They’ll actually begin delivering shots next week.

Eighty per cent of the pharmacies on Montreal Island are participating in this first round, Bourcier said in an interview with CJAD radio.

Each pharmacy is only getting around 100 doses, since just 36,000 total doses are allocated to pharmacies in this round. So, if you’ve had trouble getting a spot, it’s probably because they're “totally booked,” he said.

But pharmacists also have a unique chance to save spots for people they know need them most, whether because they need a bit of extra encouragement, or need to be told they’re eligible at all.

“People trust their pharmacists… pharmacists have a close relationship with a lot of their patients,” said Bourcier.

Many pharmacists, used to being “the first line of communication,” are planning to play a unique part in the vaccine rollout by simply inquiring after their clients, he said.

“The pharmacist will tell directly to patients, ‘Mme. Tremblay, have you been vaccinated?’” he said. Or “‘Mr. Smith, it's your turn now. Have you made an appointment?’”

Right now, the only Quebecers who could be considered latecomers to vaccination are the most elderly, whose eligibility opened in late February. Authorities repeatedly asked those close to seniors, whether family, friends or neighbours, to assist them in booking appointments.

Pharmacists will now be able to check up on which of their clients in those age categories actually got a shot, and ask if they can help those who didn’t.

“The pharmacists are [able] to get some lists of their patients per age category,” said Bourcier, to see who may need a call, and to match them with allocated doses coming to that pharmacy, asking themselves, “do I have some doses that I can administer now?”

Montreal public health director Dr. Mylene Drouin said Wednesday said the city knows this person-by-person effort will be starting.

“Sometimes [the pharmacists] do specific outreach strategies to specific clients who they know have not had their vaccine,” she said.

However, she also said public health doesn't plan to do more overall record-keeping of who doesn't get vaccinated.

Drouin said that right now, public health isn't keeping track of those refusing the vaccine, and Sonia Belanger, another city health authority, said that public health doesn't intend in the future to keep a list of unvaccinated people.

END-OF-DAY WAITING LISTS TO THE RESCUE

There are also plans in place to ensure that any no-shows or unused doses get used by the end of the day by creating end-of-day waiting lists, something various Montreal health authorities have said they’re also doing for the mass vaccination sites.

Once each vial gets opened, if all six doses don’t get used within the right timeframe, the rest will go to waste -- not an option, according to Bourcier.

“It’s very important that we don’t lose any doses. That’s one of our priorities,” he said.

“We told the pharmacies… create lists of people that are in your immediate surrounding area, that if you call, they'll be able to come.”

The pharmacies won’t wait until the end of the day, however: if anyone doesn’t show up for an appointment, staff will begin immediately to call people on the backup list, Bourcier said.

“We won’t wait until the last minute to use that list and call some patients,” he said.

Drouin said that that probably won’t happen too much, with the pharmacists’ small number of doses, but at the mass vaccination sites it’s been needed.

“We know in our massive vaccine centres, we all have this strategy to make sure that if we have leftovers at the end of the day, we [have a] specific list where we can call rapidly some persons that are still in the lineup to make sure we do not lose any doses,” she said.