norcalriteaidclerk wrote: ↑February 10th, 2023, 6:39 pm
First, the 2023 NYC closures aren't exactly limited to Manhattan as the closure of Bronx Mott Haven (537-539 east 138th) leaves eleven remaining locations in NYC's lone mainland borough (never mind any political talking points discussed in the tweet).
Although not specific to Rite Aid, that quote about the deposit makes no sense, since the NY rules require that ANY store that sells deposit items must take returns of items/types/sizes they sell. Thus, the only small issue would be if someone had a few store branded bottles and there is no other nearby Rite Aid to take them (though many grocery stores will take more than just what they sell, so that might be an option, just depends on what's available in that area).
storewanderer wrote: ↑February 11th, 2023, 2:05 am
I did notice they have shipped some garden merchandise into the stores already, mostly garden decor type items.
Valentine's was sent so little about 80% of it is already gone.
Maybe that's a good thing - given how so many stores wind up with leftovers that they are trying to clear out long past the holiday (in fact, the one Rite Aid closest to me here had, in their clearance aisle, a few bags of plastic eggs and basket grass when last I looked - pretty soon they can just move them back to this year's Easter section, if they haven't started that already!).
The French Valley Winchester store now has pictures posted on Google Maps.In additional to a generic facade which may be to match neighboring businesses,the interior more or less resembles the second version of the new concept interior that is present at two Philadelphia locations (136 North 63rd which is a 1970's or 1980's location which still has the old shield logo and 1406 Cecil b. Moore which is a recent relocation of an older store around the corner along broad street).Pics of the Camarillo relocation remain lacking (on both Yelp and Google Maps) except for a couple random pics of the redesigned Thrifty counter which is an island format.
While this news story isn't intended to push political talking points,this is still bad publicity this company just simply can't afford.
norcalriteaidclerk wrote: ↑February 15th, 2023, 5:35 pm
The French Valley Winchester store now has pictures posted on Google Maps.In additional to a generic facade which may be to match neighboring businesses,the interior more or less resembles the second version of the new concept interior that is present at two Philadelphia locations (136 North 63rd which is a 1970's or 1980's location which still has the old shield logo and 1406 Cecil b. Moore which is a recent relocation of an older store around the corner along broad street).Pics of the Camarillo relocation remain lacking (on both Yelp and Google Maps) except for a couple random pics of the redesigned Thrifty counter which is an island format.
While this news story isn't intended to push political talking points,this is still bad publicity this company just simply can't afford.
As I see it where Rite Aid screwed up here was not canceling all available appointments if they were aware this employee did not want to provide these COVID Vaccines to the customer. As far as the topic as to if the employee is still employed there, etc., clearly they were aware previously of the employee's reservations and worked with the employee so I think the employee's reservations were already known and should have been accounted for.
There are entire pharmacy chains like Raleys that don't provide any COVID Vaccines at all; while I do not know why they don't administer them, it certainly helps leave them in a position where they don't have to deal with any of this type of controversy.
Where I struggle with this is basically: say I am hired as a pharmacist. I go to work at store. Store starts to distribute COVID Vaccines and part of my job duties are to administer, broadly, whatever vaccines my employer decides it wants to sell. I decide for some reason I am concerned with some specific vaccine, but that is a personal thing and as far as I see it as far as I can go is just that I do not get one myself but otherwise remain neutral regarding the topic. But as part of the job duties I signed up for when I took the job, I knew part of the job was administering vaccines. So in order to meet my job duties, I have to administer whatever vaccines to people my employer tells me to, that is my employer's order and I have to do it. If I really can't live with myself for doing that, then I need to go find another line of work, go open my own pharmacy and make my own rules, or work at a pharmacy that doesn't require me to administer these to patients, like a non-public hospital pharmacy or something.
My guess is what happened here is Rite Aid took this pharmacist who didn't want to administer vaccines and placed the pharmacist in a busy store and said it is okay you do not need to administer these vaccines, because it is a busy store and someone else will always be there who can administer the vaccine instead so the store can meet its appointment commitments. Then of course what happened was inadequate staffing which caused this mess. They really should have just canceled all of the appointment slots. If the pharmacy is inadequately staffed, it does not have proper resources to give vaccines anyway. This is how mistakes happen. I have seen many short staffed pharmacies with handwritten "NO VACCINES TODAY" noted posted on their doors over the past year or so, often on weekends. These pharmacy chains need to take a hard look at the staffing they have and the expectations they are having of their employees and do a real heart to heart with reality... and make adjustments. Something has to give. Or people will just keep quitting.
I work in a pharmacy and we have given 5th shots to people. There are perhaps many antivax people in the world who are pharmacists. They may believe that COVID vaccines are part of some conspiracy or have microchips in them.
Yes, there are people who will believe anything they read on the internet.
There is also the possibility that the pharmacist may believe that the COVID vaccine is what is killing people and that COVID is not real. The vaccine is killing people. Yes, there is much misinformation in the world.
Sadly enough, I know of one pharmacist who I worked with who did not believe that COVID vaccinations did anything. He did not advocate for them, and he only gave them if a customer insisted on it. He also did not wear a mask and got really sick recently. He grudgingly got a COVID vaccine during the height of the COVID vaccination push. This was probably just to meet COVID vaccination quotas at the time.
When the vaccine first came out the corporate office would punish pharmacies for wasting even a single dose of COVID vaccine. It was awful. You had to make sure all the doses were used by the end of the day rather than expire. You would end up begging people to get the vaccine.
Alpha8472 wrote: ↑February 18th, 2023, 7:56 pm
I work in a pharmacy and we have given 5th shots to people. There are perhaps many antivax people in the world who are pharmacists. They may believe that COVID vaccines are part of some conspiracy or have microchips in them.
Yes, there are people who will believe anything they read on the internet.
There is also the possibility that the pharmacist may believe that the COVID vaccine is what is killing people and that COVID is not real. The vaccine is killing people. Yes, there is much misinformation in the world.
Sadly enough, I know of one pharmacist who I worked with who did not believe that COVID vaccinations did anything. He did not advocate for them, and he only gave them if a customer insisted on it. He also did not wear a mask and got really sick recently. He grudgingly got a COVID vaccine during the height of the COVID vaccination push. This was probably just to meet COVID vaccination quotas at the time.
When the vaccine first came out the corporate office would punish pharmacies for wasting even a single dose of COVID vaccine. It was awful. You had to make sure all the doses were used by the end of the day rather than expire. You would end up begging people to get the vaccine.
I do believe the pharmacist is entitled to their opinion to make their personal decision if they get a COVID vaccine or not for themself. But if someone else wants it, they can read the form that is given prior to the vaccination being administered, and make their decision after reading that form. The pharmacist should not try to sway the customer in any way- customer reads the form that explains risks and makes their decision. It is the pharmacist's job to generate revenue for their employer and if the employer sells COVID vaccines then the pharmacist needs to either give the vaccine or work somewhere else. If the store makes a special arrangement to accommodate a pharmacist who refuses to administer the vaccine then the store needs to support that pharmacist and the customers by blocking appointment slots when that pharmacist is the only one on duty, or move that pharmacist to a store that does not offer the vaccines, or something.
I know of multiple pharmacists fired for careless handling of/wasting vaccines. There was no way to tell if that behavior was sloppy, an honest mistake, or willful.
There are people out there who have never had any COVID vaccine, continue to be out and about facing people, and haven't been sick for the past 3 years. Or at least not sick enough to have them be visibly sick to others around them. Very possible they had COVID and didn't even know it at some point.
In May, when the COVID emergency declaration ends, pharmacies will no longer be required to give COVID vaccinations free to the uninsured.
This will change everything. Now pharmacies will not be losing money on COVID vaccinations for uninsured patients. Pharmacies currently are forced to not charge uninsured people for the COVID vaccination. This is forcing pharmacy employees to work for free and give COVID vaccinations free to the uninsured.
Once May comes around, pharmacies can charge the uninsured for the COVID vaccine. The price of the vaccine may rise to over $130 per dose.
This will be a huge source of profit for pharmacies. If I were a pharmacy, I would order huge amounts of the COVID vaccine right now. It is available free of charge to pharmacies right now. Once May comes around, COVID vaccine prices will rise. It will be very costly to buy. The government will stop providing COVID vaccines free to pharmacies.
The COVID vaccine will become the new money maker for pharmacies just like how pharmacies make tons of money each year by selling flu vaccinations.
We will see pharmacies change their tune as COVID vaccinations become a huge source of profit. Pharmacists will want to give vaccinations as they see the profits increase. Insurances will still be required to cover COVID vaccines at zero copay for insured patients.
Now pharmacists that refused to give vaccinations for fear of low reimbursement, will now gladly vaccinate since each COVID vaccination will be a huge profit for the pharmacy.
COVID take home tests are currently required to be covered free by insurances. Once May comes around, insurances will no longer be required to cover them free for insured patients.
If I were you, I would stockpile these free COVID tests now if you have insurance. Starting in May people will have to pay out of pocket.
The government will also no longer require COVID tests to be sold at a low price. COVID tests kits will go up in price and become very expensive. COVID tests will become the new profit center for pharmacies. It will be like gold. You will have to keep them under lock and key.
If you go into a drug store, you should be reasonably able to expect they will deliver what drug store pharmacy counters usually deliver. It’s the same problem with allowing pharmacist discretion on filling a prescription for birth control, medication for drug treatment or any other “controversial” medication or harangue a customer happens to be trying to fill said prescription.
veteran+ wrote: ↑February 19th, 2023, 7:58 am
"I do believe the pharmacist is entitled to their opinion to make their personal decision if they get a COVID vaccine or not for themself. "
So I guess that could mean that their opinion entitles them to expose, endanger, harm and possibly kill other people?
That is one powerful "opinion".
That appeared to be a valid concern during mid-late 2021. Then starting in 2022, that concern became largely invalid. We do not know if this accommodation was there in 2021 or if it was presented later in this particular employee's situation. Plus this is Idaho and vaccination rate in Idaho is not very high.
What I have seen is the problem is people who have the COVID Vaccine during 2022 were constantly getting COVID the same way other people who have no vaccine were. I am regularly around people with a vaccine and people without any vaccine. People from both groups have had COVID multiple times and there was little to no difference in their experiences. I am also seeing no difference in those who have taken 2 COVID vaccines vs. those who are 3-5 times boosted in terms of getting sick or not getting sick at the present time. Now nobody even talks about COVID anymore. I've had to suggest to people who have been sick lately to take a COVID test, most just flat out refuse and say they have the flu or RSV something. I don't know. We really do not know how much COVID is out there at this point. Bottom line COVID, RSV, flu, Vaccine, no Vaccine- if you are sick, stay away from other people.
