Pharmacists, Hospitals Must Evolve To Meet Demands of COVID-19 Vaccines

In an interview with Pharmacy Times, Annie Lambert, PharmD, BCSCP, clinical program manager of Simplifi 797 at Wolters Kluwer Health, discussed how pharmacists and hospitals can manage the storage, distribution, and other challenges that come with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.

Lambert said one of the main challenges with the distribution process is that each state has its own jurisdictional plan, which can create some confusion. In addition, the vaccines have unique storage requirements, with strict expiration times and cold storage. Because pharmacists are accustomed to handling large amounts of information and are already integrated into many care teams in different environments, Lambert said they are well positioned to be part of the vaccination plans at their health systems.

“All of the rapidly changing information, as I mentioned, that’s something that we all really need to get used to,” Lambert said. “That’s becoming the norm, and that’s just not pharmacy—that’s all health care professionals.”