Pharmacy school working to vaccinate the community against COVID-19

As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Western New York picks up the pace, the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SPPS) is playing a key role in distributing the vaccine in the community.

SPPS students, faculty and alumni have assisted at recent vaccination clinics in Kenmore and East Amherst supported by Operation Immunization, an initiative of the UB chapter of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP).

At Solstice Senior Living, the theme of the day was “Kicking COVID Out.” Nearly 100 residents lined up at the East Amherst facility for their first dose of the Moderna vaccine. Buffalo Pharmacies, owned by alumnus Joseph Voelkl, BS ’59, supplied the vaccine, with John Horton, BS ’88, overseeing the event.

The excitement in the room was palpable. “After giving one patient the shot, she wanted a photo of her and I to send to her daughter,” said Eric Bianchi, PharmD ’23. 

Across town, more than 300 residents were vaccinated at the Kenmore Senior Center, where both first and second doses of the Moderna vaccine were administered. Faculty members Karl Fiebelkorn, BS ’78, senior associate dean, and Christopher Daly, PharmD/MBA ’12, clinical assistant professor, assisted the pharmacy students, along with alumnus Donald Daly, BS ’79.

“These clinics are unique in their urgency and their scope,” Daly said. “Our past flu vaccine clinics had, on average, 30 or 40 patients. The COVID-19 vaccine clinics are seeing hundreds of patients.”

Faculty said students have adapted well to the new circumstances, and become more aware of their responsibilities as health care providers. Their patient counseling training, in particular, has proven to be invaluable.

“Since we get so much practice on how to talk to a patient through our counseling simulations, we already have a template on how to explain things like side effects and managing them,” said Evelyn Wang, PharmD ’22. “Being a pharmacist is much more than just dispensing drugs to patients.”

The school is planning to continue assisting at weekly COVID-19 vaccination clinics throughout the community.