Waterloo pharmacy gives 180 COVID-19 Pfizer vaccinations in just over a day

Waterloo, Ont., pharmacist Pascal Niccoli says he received about 180 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine late Friday and they were all gone by Sunday morning.

"We were a little bit unsure on what Pfizer would look like in our pharmacy, for a number of reasons. But we were able to get through it all. And we think in the future, we'll probably get through a couple of hundred [doses] pretty comfortably," Niccoli said in an interview Monday.

His Shoppers Drug Mart, at Conestoga Mall, was one of several pharmacies in the region that were told last week they'd be able to administer the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Previously, select pharmacies had been offering AstraZeneca vaccination, but that was halted on May 11. 

Niccoli said the weekend went smoothly with lots of interest, and his staff also stepped up to work through the beautiful weekend weather to ensure people were vaccinated.

"Pretty much everyone put their hands up [to work]. There's a lot of excitement around it," he said.

"There's a lot of understanding, I think, that this is kind of a historical moment and that we are really being called on here to do what we all say we're doing this for — the reason we joined the profession — which is to help people live better lives and to live healthier lives."

Hope for more doses

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine needs to be kept in super-cold freezers until it's about to be used. It can then stay in its vial in the fridge for up to five days. Once a vial is punctured, Niccoli said, they have six hours to use doses in needles.

"We have to be pretty strategic in how we drop those needles, make sure that we're not taking too many out." 

He said they learned right away that dose management gets difficult at the end of the day. 

"Let's say you're left with three or four doses, and you have an hour or two to sort of get through them. Then you need to make sure you have a wait list of people you can call who are willing to come in on short notice to get their needles, which so far hasn't been an issue, but certainly requires a bit of strategy and a bit of forethought."

He said that as the pharmacy gets more vaccines, he and his staff will keep a close eye on appointments and doses to ensure none are wasted.

He said it's unclear when the pharmacy will get more doses, but with the federal government announcing more Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines arriving in the coming weeks, he's hopeful for a more stable supply.

"We're hoping that we're able to put in place some sort of regular schedule based on a regular supply that's expected in the future."