By Sharon Terlep and Jaewon Kang
The nation's drugstores and groceries are racing to hire
thousands of pharmacists and technicians to administer Covid-19
vaccines to the masses.
Pharmacies big and small were laying off pharmacists as recently
as summer, as the profession's outlook grew dim. Now some of those
same pharmacies and supermarkets are making public pleas, reaching
out to retired workers and offering signing bonuses. Several retail
pharmacy chains, including CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots
Alliance Inc., have agreed to work with the U.S. government to
serve as Covid-19 vaccination sites.
"Calling all pharmacists, nurses and pharmacy techs," read a
mass email to customers from CVS, in which the company said it is
urgently hiring thousands of health-care professionals. CVS, which
employs 34,000 pharmacists and 65,000 technicians, declined to say
how many workers it is hiring. The company is looking for both
short-term and permanent workers.
Walgreens said it plans to hire about 25,000 people across the
U.S., including 8,000 to 9,000 pharmacists and other health-care
workers, to administer the vaccine. It employs 75,000 pharmacists
and technicians.
Executives at both chains said this week they are confident they
will have adequate manpower to administer the vaccines. "There is a
sense of pride, of wanting to step up," said Rick Gates, a senior
vice president at Walgreens. "We have people coming out of
retirement saying, 'I absolutely want to help.' "
Smaller chains and grocers, many of which have pharmacy
counters, are less certain they'll find the workers, particularly
when it comes to technicians. Technicians are typically hourly
workers who are licensed to assist pharmacists with filling
prescriptions, such as counting pills or answering customer
questions.
"There's not enough people to immunize. It's going to take all
hands on deck," said Aaron Wiese, chief health officer at Hy-Vee
Inc. The Midwest grocer, which has roughly 1,300 pharmacy
technicians in more than 270 pharmacies, is seeking to hire 1,000
more for the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and tests.
The job market for pharmacists has been bleak for years, with
the number of pharmacy-school graduates far outnumbering jobs. The
U.S. Department of Labor expects the job market for pharmacists to
shrink by 3% in the next decade, according to data from 2019.
Hundreds of independent and grocery-based pharmacies have
closed, unable to handle high operating costs and make money. Big
chains have either slowed store growth or begun to downsize as
consumer purchasing, even of prescription drugs, has moved online.
Meantime, declining drug-reimbursement rates have pinched profits.
The fallout for working pharmacists has been fewer jobs and lower
pay, along with a rougher workload.
"I'm not really interested in going back just to give shots,"
said Michael West, a pharmacist who was laid off with a severance
package in July from Walgreens in North Carolina. Pharmacies "made
these cuts and now they're begging for people to come back," he
said.
Mr. West, who spent more than two decades as a pharmacist,
including at CVS, said he plans to remain in retirement. He said he
felt increasing pressure over the years to pump out prescriptions
at the expense of spending time with customers, while tracking down
lower-cost treatments that can require getting approval from
physicians. "It started to feel like I was basically pushing
sales," he said.
A Walgreens spokeswoman said the company invests in technology
and operational improvements in an effort to reduce the burden of
routine tasks for pharmacists. "We are committed to providing
high-quality and trusted pharmacy services to meet the needs of our
customers, while also ensuring the well-being of each of our
pharmacy staff members," she said.
Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid Corp., the third largest U.S.
drugstore chain, combined have about 21,300 U.S. stores, about
1,000 fewer than five years ago. The number of grocery pharmacies
declined for the first time in years in 2017, the latest year for
which data is available, to 9,026, down from 9,344 in 2016.
"It's a supply and demand thing -- we didn't have enough supply
[a decade ago from pharmacy schools] and now we have too much
supply," said Scott Knoer, president of the American Pharmacists
Association. That oversupply will likely be enough to ensure enough
workers to vaccinate the masses starting next year, he said. And
the hiring spree is a bright spot for pharmacy school graduates and
technicians, he said.
But for many in the field, the new jobs -- many of which are
short-term for the duration of vaccination efforts -- are less
attractive than a long-term spot. Median annual pay for a
pharmacist was $128,090 in 2019; pharmacy technicians made $33,950
a year, according to the Labor Department.
Pharmacists' wages have grown more slowly than the overall
workforce, and the field has added fewer jobs. The median hourly
wage for pharmacists rose 4.8% between 2016 and 2019 while wages
rose 7.5% for all occupations, according to Labor Department
statistics.
Pharmacists require a doctoral or professional degree. Pharmacy
technician jobs require a high-school diploma or equivalent.
Employers may require additional training or education.
Pharmacies have looked to hire more technicians in recent years
to free up pharmacists from administrative tasks. The pace of that
hiring is intensifying ahead of the Covid-19 vaccination drive.
Technicians were cleared in October by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services to administer Covid-19 vaccines, though
each state has different requirements.
Beyond giving shots, technicians review vaccine history, handle
consent forms and schedule appointments for two-dose vaccines,
companies say. They also can help with spacing out patients and
encouraging distancing in their stores.
Chains say that it is tough to keep track of varying state rules
that determine which jobs pharmacy technicians can do and the
qualifications they need.
Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV's Hannaford grocery chain, which
has more than 180 stores with pharmacies in the Northeast, is
encouraging technicians to get certified to administer vaccinations
by offering a one-time bonus, said John McGrath, vice president of
pharmacy services at Ahold Delhaize's services business.
Immunization certification includes various credentials such as
CPR training. In addition to training staff, Ahold Delhaize has
also hired per-diem pharmacists and continues to look for
technicians, he added.
Hy-Vee is targeting former pharmacy workers, especially those in
rural areas whose shops closed due to competition and who left the
industry. "We're all going after the same pool," said Mr. Wiese,
the chief health officer, adding that competitors are coming after
his technicians with signing bonuses.
Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com and Jaewon Kang
at jaewon.kang@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 22, 2020 05:44 ET (10:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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