St. Thomas pharmacy says demand for COVID booster 'overwhelming' going into the holidays
CBC
The demand for the COVID-19 booster has been "overwhelming" for Yurek Pharmacy in St. Thomas after the province announced that anyone 18 or older could get the jab starting Monday so long as three months have passed since their second shot.
The surge in demand comes with increasing worry around the Omicron variant.
"When the first announcements came out for the over 70 group, we had a lot of calls," said Steve Bond, the pharmacy manager at Yurek Pharmacy.
Bond says they experienced the same situation when the province brought the eligibility age down to 50 years old.
"With the recent announcement, it's just been overwhelming," he said. "People are concerned. They're confused, they're not sure where they can go or when they can go. So, we're definitely getting an extremely high demand of people trying to get their boosters, especially, I think, before the holidays."
Even though more people are wanting the shot, he said they've been keeping up with demand. They're getting about 150 to 300 doses per week from either Southwestern Public Health or the province, and they've been able to administer 60 to 80 shots per day.
The pharmacy was also offered a maximum of 700 doses as a one-off from the province. It's uncertain whether that's going to be offered another time.
"We have come close to running out many times," said Bond. "On Tuesday morning, we didn't have enough doses to accommodate all the appointments that were booked, but our local health unit provided that."
People under the age of 50 can book appointments with Middlesex-London Health Unit starting Monday. Some pharmacies are already taking appointments before that.