CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two months ago, Carolina Pharmacy, which has several locations in North and South Carolina, told WCNC that vaccine demand was so low, pharmacists were forced to throw away unused, expired doses almost every day at its locations in both states.
“It’s a shame,” Kavel Bhathela said two months ago, “It’s shameful that we have to do that.”
But things have since turned out. Pharmacists say they’re seeing a jump in both COVID-19 testing and vaccinations.
Alex Yawny, who is also a pharmacist with Carolina Pharmacy, said because of growing concern over the Delta variant, along with summer travel, now pharmacists say they’ve seen more people coming in for both COVID-19 testing and vaccinations.
“Our testing has significantly increased. We were doing probably around 10 to 15 COVID tests every day. Just yesterday we had 51,” said Yawny.
A growing number of companies are requiring employees to be vaccinated – including the Walt Disney Company, Google, Facebook, and Wal-Mart’s corporate offices. There’s also more concern over the Delta variant and rising numbers of cases.
Yawny is happy that more people are coming in to get the test and the shot, but he still hopes even more people will choose to get the vaccine.
“Greater vaccination rates, especially in our region, definitely prevent the number of cases we’re seeing and slow the spread of the variant,” Yawny said.
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