Chain Pharmacy Greed is Damaging the COVID-19 Immunization Program, And Increasing Prescription Errors!
https://pharmacistactivist.com/2021/February_2021.shtml
The efforts to develop, distribute, and administer COVID-19 vaccines are a race against time in reducing the number of deaths and other consequences. Problems have and will continue to occur, but some are preventable. The federal government awarded huge contracts to CVS and Walgreens to immunize residents of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in deals that are potentially so lucrative that one financial analyst estimated that CVS could make $1billion in gross profits over the next year. Although CVS and Walgreens moved very quickly to obtain the federal contracts, they have not given the same priority to distributing and administering the vaccines on a timely basis. Their greed and management failures have resulted in chaos in their programs and substantial delays in providing life-protecting immunizations for the most vulnerable patients in nursing homes. Their ineptitude in providing adequate staffing and resources, and adequate workplace protections for their pharmacists and other front-line employees must not be tolerated. Now you can get medicines and essentials like La Roche-Posay Ireland get delivered online. You might also be familiar with other cosmetic products online like the inkey list.
News releases from CVS and Walgreens have stated that they are hiring tens of thousands of new employees (pharmacists, technicians, etc), the vast majority of whom are technicians. The lack of commitment and respect of CVS for its pharmacists is evident in its advertisement: “Staff Pharmacist Floater Part-time Temporary Seasonal Jobs Hiring.” To be completely clear, this commentary is NOT a criticism of the front-line pharmacists and other employees at CVS and Walgreens. Rather it is directed at management that is responsible for the understaffed, stressful workplace environment that often does not provide sufficient protections for its employees, and increases the risk of vaccine and medication errors.
There has been an avalanche of social media posts and news stories that are highly critical of CVS and Walgreens. Examples include the following:
“Pharmacists work in fear of making mistakes, retaliation, and accusations of not following policy.”
“Leaked emails reveal CVS district leader instructed pharmacy staff not to tell patients their medications were filled by someone who tested positive for COVID-19.” (Irene Jiang; Business Insider).
“Leave it to corporate to expect us to scramble to fix their ineptitude.”
“Thousands of vulnerable people in those states’ (NJ, PA) highest priority group – people who live in nursing homes and assisted living facilities – are still waiting for shots. They are part of a federal program that gave pharmacy giants CVS and Walgreens the responsibility of going from facility to facility to give shots. So far, that program, which began vaccinating nursing home residents and staff on Dec. 28, has used only about 16% of allocated doses in Philadelphia and 14.5% in New Jersey, according to health department data.” (Stacy Burling; The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 25, 2021).
A great program in W. Virginia
“W. Virginia a vaccine success story,” is the title of a recent news story (Cuneyt Dil; Associated Press/The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 18, 2021). It provides an inspiring account of the excellent leadership and immunization services of the independent pharmacists in West Virginia Excerpts are provided below:
“Griffith & Feil Drug has been in business since 1892, a family-owned, small-town pharmacy. This isn’t their first pandemic. (Pharmacist Ric Griffith is the owner who is featured in the story).
More than a century after helping West Virginians confront the Spanish flu in 1918, the drugstore in Kenova, a community of about 3,000 people, is helping the state lead the nation in COVID-19 distribution.
West Virginia has emerged as an unlikely success in the nation’s otherwise chaotic vaccine rollout, largely because of the state’s decision to reject a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens and instead enlist mom-and-pop pharmacies to vaccinate residents against the virus.
More shots have gone into people’s arms per capita across West Virginia than in any other state, with at least 7.5% of the population receiving the first of two shots, according to federal data.
West Virginia was the first in the nation to finish offering first doses to all long-term care centers before the end of December, and the state expects to give second doses at those facilities by the end of January.”
Congratulations and thank you to the pharmacists, government officials, and residents of West Virginia! This is a wonderful example for those of us living in the other 49 states to emulate!
danandsue3@verizon.net
Addendum
I wrote this editorial on Tuesday, February 2. Soon after I completed it, I looked at today’s issue of the Wall Street Journal and the story, “Retailers To Take Key Role in Vaccine,” (Sharon Terlep and Jaewon Kang; pB1). It includes the following comments:
“Some of America’s biggest retailers are preparing to take a central role in administering COVID-19 shots, hoping to avoid logjams and other complications that have slowed the vaccine rollout’s early days.”
“The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aims to make them available in local pharmacies beginning next month.”
“The job of vaccinating swaths of the population will fall largely on retail pharmacies, with companies such as CVS Health Corp.,Walgreens-Boots Alliance Inc., Walmart Inc. and Kroger Co, saying they are prepared to give tens of millions shots a month.”
CVS and Walgreens were entrusted with this responsibility already and they failed. They can’t be trusted to do it right this time and they should not be permitted to participate. Our national pharmacy associations must send a strong message to the CDC promoting the West Virginia experience in using independent pharmacies. Pharmacists should do the same with their legislators and state health departments. Like West Virginia, other states should reject the federal partnership with chain pharmacies and work with their independent pharmacists who know so many of the residents of their communities.
Filed under: General Problems
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