With vaccines in more pharmacies, pharmacies continue to recruit

“Since the vaccine was approved, our numbers have exploded,” said Scott Knoer, chief executive of the association.

Pharmacy technicians are also in great demand. They have traditionally done things like loading syringes and registering people. Until recently, only a few states allowed technicians to give injections. But the Trump administration issued guidelines in October allowing them to administer Covid-19 vaccines under the supervision of a pharmacist.

While not all vaccine vendors let technicians get vaccinated, the regulatory change is creating thousands of new vaccinators.

Ms Shah, the Walgreens executive, said the combination of the chain’s hiring and rule change meant Walgreens would have around 45,000 employees nationwide who could provide the Covid-19 vaccines, up from nearly 27 000 pharmacists. This “certainly increases the number of vaccinations we can provide as the vaccines become plentiful,” she said.

In December and January, the American Pharmacists Association’s immunization training program for pharmacy technicians recruited approximately 30,000 people. Between 2016 and 2019, an earlier version of the program enrolled a total of 650 people, said Kimberly McKeirnan, an associate professor at the Washington State School of Pharmacy who designed the training.

While most vaccinators are hired by large drugstore chains, small independent pharmacies are also hiring. Brooke Powell, a pharmacy technician at a Columbus, Ohio hospital, was looking for a part-time weekend job to get involved in the vaccination effort.

She had been in talks with CVS and Walgreens but eventually decided to work for an independent store, O’Reilly Family Pharmacy. Ms Powell appreciated the owner’s connection to the community, which she said would help plan vaccination clinics for local churches, schools and businesses.

“I’m not sure the chain pharmacies would take so much care,” Ms. Powell said.

The O’Reilly Pharmacy is hoping to receive its first shipment of vaccine this week and start immunizing people soon after.