CARSTAIRS - The first week of COVID-19 vaccinations has been very busy at the Carstairs Family Pharmasave, says pharmacist Wade Mannle.
The pharmacy began giving the Moderna vaccine shots on March 15, administering 40 shots a day to eligible area residents and people from outside the region.
Patients have generally been very happy to be receiving the inoculations after a year of pandemic, he said.
“Everybody is very excited,” said Mannle. “Some of them are pretty giddy about it. It’s nice to see.”
They have been able to administer a shot every 10 minutes, with numerous safety measures in place.
“You have to abide by the COVID protocols,” he said. “And there are the cleaning protocols as well. You have to gown up and it all takes time.
“Our first allotment was 200 doses, so that’s why we are doing 40 a day.”
As with other pharmacies across the province, there has been a large waiting list building up for shots at the Carstairs pharmacy.
“We’ve been fully booked and we have a big wait list now because there is an issue with getting the allotments, the delay in the vaccine delivery to the province,” he said.
“We’ve had to contact 300 to 400 people to tell them we have to delay their appointment. Everybody’s been good about it but there has been disappointment for sure.”
While many of those seeking shots are from the Mountain View County region, the pharmacy has also had calls from far and wide seeking appointments, he said.
“We are getting numerous calls from Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer,” he said.
With the vaccination program in the province only just getting underway, the busy times are only getting started, he said.
“It’s going to be for a while. We are just in phase 2A so far in the roll out, so there’s a long way to go,” he said.
Carstairs Family Pharmasave is located at 120B - 10th Avenue South.
