Wakefield's pharmacists 'willing and able' to begin rolling out Covid vaccines

Community pharmacists in Wakefield are at the heart of their communities - and uniquely placed to begin rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine.
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This week, your Express, along with our sister titles across the country, has launched a campaign calling on the government to allow pharmacies to begin offering the Covid-19 vaccine to their communities.

We're urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson to utilise the UK's network of more than 11,000 pharmacies as local, convenient and trusted locations.

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This week, your Express, along with our sister titles across the country, has launched a campaign calling on the government to allow pharmacies to begin offering the Covid-19 vaccine to their communities.This week, your Express, along with our sister titles across the country, has launched a campaign calling on the government to allow pharmacies to begin offering the Covid-19 vaccine to their communities.
This week, your Express, along with our sister titles across the country, has launched a campaign calling on the government to allow pharmacies to begin offering the Covid-19 vaccine to their communities.

And many of Wakefield's pharmacists have told us they are "willing and able" to begin the rollout.

But additional measures, in the form of support staff and specialist storage facilities, will be required.

Ruth Buchan, CEO of Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire, said: “We are willing and able, and it feels very much like the right thing to do.

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“We have got a role to play and we want to help the country get back on its feet again.”

But Ms Buchan says that pharmacists would be unable to help under current government guidelines, which require each vaccination site to administer hundreds of vaccines each day.

Instead, she says the focus should be on getting the jab to those living in more isolated, rural communities.

“One of the things that people have realised during the pandemic is that they have this fantastic resource on the doorstep,” Ms Buchan said.

“It’s great that people are supporting us.

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“In Wakefield we have areas which are quite rural by nature. Many of the rural communities have a pharmacy in them. Most people can access a pharmacy within a 20 minute walk.

“Pharmacies could provide a huge number of vaccinations. Each pharmacy might not do hundreds each day, but if you add it up, I really feel like we do have a role to play.

“It’s about making sure that people don’t have to travel too far to get it.

“We are a trusting environment that is in your community. There is a real opportunity here for us to help.”

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It is a view shared by many of the pharmacists spoken to by the Express this week.

Barnaby Roe, owner of online chemist Wakefield Pharmacy, said that pharmacists would require extra support if they were to join the vaccination effort.

He said: “There is talk about it nationally, but the difficulty I’ve got is in community pharmacy you’re going to find that you’ve only got one room.

“With the vaccines there’s got to be a waiting period of 15 minutes after the vaccine is done, and you’d struggle to do that with only one consultation room.

“That’s the pinch point. There needs to be a different alternative where it could be done in a larger setting, inviting patients down and covering the pharmacists.”