UIC Pharmacy’s instrumental role in COVID-19 vaccine plan
As soon as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, pharmacy staff at the UIC College of Pharmacy and UI Health were ready to hit the ground running.
The preparation process did not come without its challenges, however. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine must be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius. “One of the first things we had to do was see if we could find an ultra-cold freezer to accommodate this need,” said Dr. Andrew Donnelly, Director of Pharmacy at UI Health and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the College. “We were lucky that the Department of Pharmacy Practice had two of these freezers on order. Dr. Nutescu agreed to let our central pharmacy borrow one during this time.” Without this freezer, the pharmacy would have had to use the thermal shipping container that the vaccine came in to store it which would have been quite difficult logistically.
Once the vaccine was received, the vaccination program began in the basement of the College. The pharmacy department volunteered to draw up and label the syringes to streamline the vaccination process, thereby enabling a greater number of people to be vaccinated at each vaccination station. Since vaccinations started at 6:30 am, Dr. Donnelly recounted that syringe preparation began in the pharmacy at 5:30 am. In order to accommodate this increased workload, agency technicians were utilized to assist with syringe preparation. In addition, several of the hospital's pharmacy externs assisted with the preparation when they did not have class. This additional personnel allowed the pharmacy to keep up with the demanding vaccination schedule. More recently, a second vaccination program was started at the Credit Union 1 Arena. Dr. Donnelly said that pharmacy has a designated area at the Arena where syringe preparation occurs.
“Recently, we set a new single-day record of 1,812 vaccinations being administered at both locations,” said Dr. Donnelly. “This number is only going to increase as we expand the vaccination program at the Arena.” It has been estimated that as many as 4,000 vaccinations could be performed at the Arena on a daily basis. Currently, people in Phases 1a and 1b are being vaccinated. This will be followed by those in Phase 1c and then people in Phase 2. “Given the number of people in each of these groups, we are in it for the long haul in terms of our vaccination efforts, with the ultimate goal to vaccinate enough people to reach herd immunity,” said Dr. Donnelly.
Currently, the city of Chicago is only receiving approximately 34,000 doses per week, which is not nearly enough to meet the city’s vaccination needs. “We are closely working with those doing the vaccinating to make sure that no doses are unused at the end of the day in order to vaccinate as many individuals as possible,” said Dr. Donnelly. The pharmacy team is also making sure that they get six doses out of each vaccine vial. This can be challenging depending on the type of syringe and needle being used.
Dr. Matthew Gimbar, Associate Director of Hospital Pharmacy Operations, is another key member of the COVID-19 vaccination team who shared his experience during this challenging time. “For me, being a part of this effort has been one of, if not the most, rewarding endeavors of my pharmacy career.” Dr. Gimbar has been proud to witness and be a part of the mobilization effort to administer vaccines as efficiently as possible. “Within the pharmacy world, we know much more attention is being paid to our profession. The team has risen to the occasion over and over again to deliver consistent production and help with patient throughput.” Dr. Donnelly fully concurs and said that this is another example of pharmacy working with healthcare providers and others at UI Health to put a successful program in place.
UI Health and UIC College of Pharmacy’s team of expert pharmacy leaders, pharmacy staff, student pharmacists, and agency staff have all played a critical role in the COVID-19 vaccine administration plan and getting society closer to the end of the coronavirus pandemic.