Friday December 8, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | Island Social Trends
Premier David Eby spoke highly today about the contribution being made by pharmacists across British Columbia.
During a media availability on December 8 from a pharmacy in North Vancouver, Eby delivered an update about pharmacists prescribing for minor ailments and free contraceptives.
The Premier also mentioned some current vaccination stats: 1.42 million people have received a flu shot this fall season, while 1.25 million have received an updated COVID vaccine (the booster which aims to protect against some of the latest mutations of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 virus).
Encouraging respiratory season immunization:
Many of those people will have gotten those shots at their local pharmacy, said Eby, added that he was one of those folks! “It’s free, it’s easy, and pharmacists are waiting to assist,” he said.
Eby encouraged people to get immunized before the holidays; social gatherings are frequently where respiratory viral infections are easily spread and hospitals will be under strain with some staff away on holidays.
Reliance on pharmacists:
“We know that we’re heavily reliant on pharmacists as part of the health-care team in British Columbia and we are expanding that reliance,” said Eby in his media availability delivered live from a Shoppers Drug Mart location.
“We’re asking pharmacists to support people in prescribing minor ailments, refilling prescriptions, supporting the free birth control program, and pharmacists have really stepped up,” Eby said.
He noted that pharmacies are making investments such as building new consulting rooms. Vaccination appointment visits are compensated to the pharmacies directly.
“They are paid on the basis of seeing people,” said Eby, saying it saves the system money because people are not going to the emergency rooms in hospitals “which is the most expensive type of care”.
“We have had a very positive partnership with pharmacists and they are not only increasing access for British Columbians helping save money on birth control, but helping the system as a whole be effective and efficient for taxpayers,” said Eby today.
The BC government is grateful for pharmacists stepping up to provide free vaccination services, and prescribing for an expanded range of conditions, said BC Health Minister Adrian Dix in a media session on December 5.
Drug costs for short-term refills:
In response to a question about how short-term prescription refills are seeing a higher-per-unit drug cost, the premier responded with broad strokes:
“BC was the first province to introduce the biosimilars program where drugs that have the identical effect on the body that are not protected by a particular patent that result in brand new drugs being very expensive were able to be substituted by pharmacists and physicians, bringing down the overall cost of the system, saving literally hundreds of millions of dollars to taxpayers with no impact on people’s health,” said Eby today.
===== RELATED NEWS from our Health News Section :
- Doctor shortage contributes to people paying more for smaller prescription refills (December 5, 2023)
- Dr Henry respiratory season update Nov 10 (November 10, 2023)
- BC Pharmacare expands coverage for autoimmune conditions (November 6, 2023)
- Pharmacy online booking system goes live June 29 (June 29, 2023)
- BC takes strident regulatory action on pharmaceutical front (April 20, 2023)
- COVID shots available at 81 pharmacies on Vancouver Island (January 6, 2022)
