Vaccine roll out in pharmacies will build trust in jab says Horsham pharmacist

Shailesh Amin, owner and pharmacist at Nories Pharmacy said extending the roll out when vaccine supplies allow will make a ‘huge difference’ to trust in the lifesaving inoculation.

He added that the relationship built up over many years with patients will mean they can convince people to have the jab who might otherwise be concerned about it.

Shailesh said: “Pharmacies are in a unique position.

“They have an established customer base that have a level of trust.

“The patients in pharmacies will probably have a little bit more time [than in a mass vaccination centre].

“There is a lot of reassurance needed. The contribution pharmacies will make is huge.

“If there’s some issues taking it they can sit down and address it.

“A pharmacy is able to intercept the trust and take it to the next level.

“Pharmacies can help build the trust.”

We’re continuing with our A Shot in the Arm campaign, calling for all pharmacists to be involved in the vaccine rollout, and there is much work to be done to ensure no-one is more than a ten-minute walk from a vaccination centre.

Shailesh said a conservative estimate would see smaller pharmacies delivering around 250 jabs a month.

With more than 10,000 branches across this country this would increase capacity by 2.5m jabs every month, according to the pharmacist.

He said these pharmacies would play an important role in ensuring patients who were ‘on the fence’ about the vaccine would get the jab.