Conway Pharmacies are seeing high demand for the COVID-19 vaccine with large, and even closed, waiting lists at some locations.
“We’re getting a lot of phone calls and people who are eager to get the vaccine. We’ve been giving out vaccines like crazy,” said a pharmacist at Cornerstone Pharmacy in Conway about local vaccine distribution. The pharmacy said they have been receiving shipments of vaccine doses once a week to use for first and second immunizations.
The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy said they have 1,500 people on their waiting list for the vaccine. The Medicine Shoppe has been receiving shipments of 100 doses a week and has vaccinated 350 people so far. People who have received the vaccine told the Medicine Shoppe they experienced sore arms and some reported having fevers after the second dose.
Medcare Pharmacy began giving the vaccine seven weeks ago, said Matt Frazer, Medcare owner, and pharmacist. Medcare received 100 doses for the first four weeks and began receiving an extra 100 a week after that.
Frazer said it has been extra work, but that all 800 vaccines have been administered. “I hope it’s consistent, we’ve been getting them from the department of health,” said Frazer.
He said that they will soon be receiving additional vaccines from a federal government program. Frazer also said he hopes that they will get more vaccines once the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The Johnson and Johnson vaccine would, if approved, join the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as the only single-dose vaccine. Frazer said this would likely speed up the overall vaccination process.
After vaccines are given, patients stay at the pharmacy for a 15 minute observation period in case of adverse reactions. Medcare has had no issues during this period so far, said Frazer.
Some Pharmacies, like Medcare Pharmacy and Smith Family Pharmacy, said they have had to close waiting lists due to the high demand.
Other pharmacies have had other issues causing delays. The Walgreens on Salem Road said they had not yet been authorized to give the vaccine. Amity Road Pharmacy said they are set to receive vaccine doses, but do not know when they will arrive.
The Walmart Pharmacy at Skyline Drive started giving vaccines on Feb. 12 with all doses set to be administered. “We are all working very hard on everything that we need to do to get the vaccines administered accordingly,” said ReAnna Payne, a pharmacy technician at Walmart.
Over 474,000 vaccines have been given out of 719,000 allocated vaccines in Arkansas as of Feb. 14, according to the Arkansas Department of Health website.
Vaccination and other COVID-19 information can be found on the Arkansas Department of Health website at healthy.arkansas.gov.
Arkansas is in phase 1-B, vaccinating Arkansans aged 70 or older and education workers including K-12, child care, and higher education. Arkansans that meet the current phase criteria can contact their local pharmacy for information on how to get the vaccine.