As usual Sunshine Coast pharmacies are administering flu shots for residents but unusually this season, they’ve dealt with a new booking system, staff shortages and the added workload of COVID-19 boosters, during a period of intense demand.
In a Dec. 8 email to Coast Reporter, a Ministry of Health spokesperson said more than 1.5 million influenza shots have been administered at community pharmacies, Health Authority clinics and doctors’ offices so far this season, compared to about 1.4 million doses administered during the 2021-2022 flu season in its entirety.
In a Dec. 1 release, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) urged the public to get immunized ahead of the holiday season. In addition to COVID-19 booster clinics, family physician and nurse offices, the public was directed to seek out flu shots at pharmacies.
“As we approach the holiday season, we understand people are busier making social plans with family and friends. Getting up-to-date immunizations is both free and easy to coordinate,” said Dr. Meena Dawar, VCH Medical Health Officer, in the release.
Capacity low at season’s start
While they are free, both COVID-19 and flu vaccinations haven’t always been easy to coordinate on the Sunshine Coast, especially at the season’s start.
Vaccinations have been occurring at a record-breaking rate at pharmacies this year thanks to the combined need for COVID-19 and flu shots. An Oct. 18 email obtained by Coast Reporter from the BC Pharmacy Association showed a record 58,000 vaccinations were administered in a single day in B.C., and a record 274,000 were administered in a week. Approximately 1,300 community pharmacies are administering COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, according to the Ministry of Health.
At the start of the season, the association identified issues around a lack of appointment availability at pharmacies, including on the Sunshine Coast.
A Sep. 27 Pharmacy Association email revealed Sechelt and Madeira Park were among 22 communities with no COVID-19 vaccine appointment availability, “or less than 10 per cent availabilities over the next 30 days” at pharmacies. An increase in capacity “is greatly needed,” said the bulletin.
Of the 100,000 COVID-19 vaccination appointments booked in the province that week, 71,000 were at pharmacies.
More than a month later, capacity appears to have improved. In the Dec. 8 email to Coast Reporter, a Ministry of Health spokesperson said between Gibsons, Sechelt and Powell River 800 out of 1,200 appointments are still available at “health authority clinics or community pharmacies.”
New booking system
This year’s increased demand for vaccine and surging output has occurred at the same time a new booking system was implemented for flu shots, which created unique challenges for pharmacists this year.
Coast Reporter contacted about half a dozen pharmacies on the Sunshine Coast. At least three were no longer booking flu vaccinations because of issues related to the booking system, supply or staff shortages. Some resorted instead to providing walk-in availability only.
Pharmacists also said the public has encountered issues booking through the Ministry of Health’s Get Vaccinated registration system, used for flu shots for the first time this year – a central booking system that is also used to book COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
Ken Grunenberg, pharmacist at the The Sechelt Medicine Shoppe in ts'uḵw'um (Wilson Creek) said there is a “real demand” for flu shots this year. “We’re getting people who are 70 years old who are getting their first flu shot, ever.”
The pharmacist has been giving shots three days a week this season, but as of last Friday, he said, “we really have no vaccine left. There’s a real problem with supply.”
“The places where we order it are saying we can’t get it, which is annoying. And you wonder what's going on, because they encourage people to get their shots and then they can’t supply it.”
The pharmacy has administered an estimated 1,200 influenza vaccine injections since the start of the season.
Grunenberg said the pharmacy has to order a week before the anticipated shipment will arrive. Once it arrives and is refrigerated, it’s only good for one month. “You’re always playing this little game. You don’t know what your demand is going to be,” said Grunenberg.
Booking system, staffing challenges
As for the public-facing Get Vaccinated immunization registration system, he said patients have found it so difficult to navigate that the pharmacy reverted to administering shots on a “mostly walk-up” basis through word of mouth.
“We had days where we posted our five-hour window and we had six people make a reservation – and we had 60 people who got shots. The reservation system didn't work, really,” he said.
An assistant at Your Independent Grocer pharmacy in Sechelt also had trouble securing vaccines at the start of flu season – which, they said, typically happens. Now, staffing is the larger problem.
The pharmacy was forced to “put a pause” on COVID-19 shots last week and was no longer booking flu shots because a staff shortage made it impossible to keep up with demand. If people request in-person, “we’ll see if we can accommodate it at the time,” they said. “Having appointments booked, we can’t really keep up with the demand.”
People have also expressed difficulty navigating the online booking system, they said.
Staff shortages and issues with the back end system, known as ImmsBC, also afflicted Howe Sound Pharmacy in Gibsons.
Last season the pharmacy administered almost 900 flu shots by devoting one pharmacist to the job three days a week. “This year we just couldn’t do that,” said Marc-Andre Renaud, who managed the ImmsBC system for the pharmacy.
This year the pharmacy managed between 30 and 40 per cent of the previous year’s total, according to Renaud, due to a staff shortage.
As of Dec. 9, the pharmacy’s voicemail says it is no longer providing flu and COVID-19 vaccinations. The last vaccination appointment occurred three weeks ago.
And while the Get Vaccinated booking system functioned for about 80 per cent of clients, the remainder encountered technical issues that took hours to resolve, said Renaud.
“This year was a non-stop headache,” he said. People confused receiving a registration confirmation with a booking confirmation, forcing the pharmacy to turn people away initially.
“We had to change our phone message to say we are not taking walk-ins.”
Renaud told Coast Reporter the booking system was also “frustrating” because appointments would be cancelled “with very little clarity” because of how the software was implemented.
“We had to fix at least a dozen of those,” he said. “It was not fun.”
The Ministry of Health spokesperson also noted that at this time the Get Vaccinated system only allows people to book one appointment at a time.
Instead, people can book a single appointment and receive both shots at the same time, supply permitting, said the spokesperson. People have to book a second shot after receiving the first if they don’t get both shots in the same visit.
While the ImmsBC system simplified paperwork and vaccine submissions for remuneration, said Renaud, “that gain was basically annihilated by the complexity of the system when trying to book people.”
The issue was most pronounced at the start of the season when demand was highest, he said. “Hopefully they listen to pharmacists’ feedback and improve it for next year.”
A Ministry of Health spokesperson acknowledged “there were some initial booking glitches” with the province-wide rollout of the booking service, adding “the response to the campaign is strong.”
Not all pharmacies have been dealing with all three issues at once.
Rami Khatib at Sechelt Pharmacy said that people have experienced challenges with the booking system, but he hasn’t dealt with supply issues this year, and has been offering shots “steadily” since October, with demand appearing higher than previous years. As of last week, Khatib estimates he has immunized up to 600 people. “It’s a one-man show, my pharmacy. It’s been quite busy.”
