Police, pharmacist react to new vaccine prioritization

More people on the front lines of the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic will be rolling up their sleeves for a shot.

The Ministry of Health announced Monday that vaccines will roll out for police officers, firefighters, public health inspectors and staff in grocery stores with attached pharmacies over the next few weeks.

The move is something that has Rick Bourassa, the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police, feeling optimistic.

“Of course, we are happy with that news. We have been, for quite some time, quite aware of the risk that our frontline officers take while policing during this pandemic … So we’re quite happy to see that prioritization is coming forward,” the chief of the Moose Jaw Police Service said.

Police have been asking to be bumped up on the list for vaccines for months in Saskatchewan.

Bourassa said that, thanks to the high possibility of COVID exposure, it makes sense to protect every officer.

“Across the province, police officers are often engaged in very close contact in some very stressful conditions as it were, let alone add a pandemic into it … So to have the additional protection of the vaccine … is really essential,” he continued.

It is likely those shots will be appreciated, as a number of officers in Regina and Saskatoon have had to isolate after coming into contact with the virus since the pandemic began.

“Police officers have really been carrying a very heavy load through this past year,” Bourassa said.

Vaccine doses will also start rolling out at pharmacies the week of April. 26.

Dawn Martin, the CEO of the Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan, said there is a lot of work ahead, but she’s looking forward to playing a part in getting shots out to the people of our province.

“Obviously, everything is highly dependent on supply and everything like that, but we’re going to start with a staged approach,” she explained.

She said pharmacies will likely start out by giving out the Pfizer shot in Saskatoon, Regina and nearby communities. She said the province’s original plan was to use Moderna doses, because they’re easier to store and transport. However, that changed, and could have an impact on the early days of vaccines in pharmacies.

“The Pfizer one will have to go out to communities that are pretty close — either in Regina and Saskatoon or within about a two-hour radius, because of the shipment and the storage requirements and the viability of the vaccine once it’s thawed,” she said.

On top of the general public by age range, pharmacy workers and grocery store staff who work in the same building as a pharmacy will be eligible to get their shot.

That’s a practical idea, according to Martin.

“There is certainly some pragmatism to this, right? If you (have) a pharmacy within a grocery store, it does make a certain amount of sense to have folks in that grocery store have access to vaccines that are available in the pharmacy,” she said.

However, there is one important factor to keep in mind.

“This is kind of new for us as well, so we’re just wanting to make sure … that the demand doesn’t exceed the supply in the early days of the pilot before we know for sure that there is going to be absolute stable supply coming into pharmacies,” Martin said. “Other than that, we think it’s a fairly pragmatic way to protect our essential workers.”

Giving out shots isn’t the only way pharmacists will be helping the vaccine rollout.

Leading up to the doses’ arrival, they will get special training to educate people about vaccines and convince those who have concerns to roll up their sleeve.

“We all are aware that there will be a certain amount of the population who are hesitant to get their vaccines,” Martin said.

If someone is coming in for some unrelated business, like picking up a prescription, a pharmacist can check to see if they’re eligible to get their shot. If the person is hesitant or worried, this training will allow staff to educate them on the vaccine.

“They can talk through much of the concerns, or maybe the information or the disinformation that is out there, and hopefully push them towards getting their vaccination,” she explained.