Today we ventured out to get the shots -- and while dealing with the helpful CVS pharmacy technician, I felt as if I were watching what's described here in front of my face.
The New Omicron Booster and Flu Season Have Pushed Pharmacy Workers to Their Limit
... “We were told Thursday that week would be the earliest,” she said. “Suddenly we received a shipment of two boxes that Monday.”
The first day wasn’t so bad—only one patient realized the new vaccine was available. But the following day, “chaos ensued,” she said. Shots were scheduled every 15 minutes from 9:30 a.m. to 6:15 p.m., with no breaks. “That first day, we didn’t even know how many milliliters the patient was to receive in the shot,” she said. “We didn’t know if it was OK to give with a flu vaccine. We didn’t know if it had any side effects. We didn’t even know how to properly post the vaccine to our inventory system.”
Pharmacists also felt the pressure in the early days of the new vaccine rollout. As Matt, a pharmacist and manager at a retail pharmacy near Tucson, Arizona, said, “As the new omicron boosters roll out, the extreme anxiety has returned”—worsened by his company’s requirement that pharmacies accommodate walk-ins at all hours of the day.
Making matters more dire, the new vaccine rollout coincides with flu season, typically the busiest time of year at the pharmacy. ...
Today our CVS pharmacy tech fielded three phone calls which trying to process our out-of-state medical and insurance records. Her work space was jammed with crates and boxes. She explained they were dealing with twice the volume of incoming drug packages and three times the number of requests they usually see -- all with a reduced staff because it's so hard to hire at present.
She was surprisingly cheerful about it, though reporting that she found herself working 14 hour days without stopping to eat.
Corporate capitalism is not about efficiency -- it's about getting the most out of nice people who take pride in their work. That sucks.
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