Opelousas pharmacy vaccine supply going fast
OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY) The push to get Louisiana residents vaccinated against COVID-19 continues.
The Louisiana Department of Health says they distributed a supply of vaccine to the majority of their participating providers last week.
One of those is Carl's Thrifty Way Pharmacy on S. Union Street in Opelousas.
For pharmacy owner Carl Savoie, the vaccine allotment he received was heaven sent.
Savoie was one of a few pharmacies in the Acadiana region to get a supply from the state last week, and says its going fast.
He explains that his pharmacy is down to those extra doses they get in each vial.
"We still have about a hundred or so we are going to give. We called people and set up appointments. We're going to finish it off probably tomorrow (Thursdsy). We really do need a recoupment period because this weekend it was really fast and furious," Savoie said.
The speed by which the COVID vaccine is being made available is on just about everyone's mind.
Savoie says either way he's grateful for what the state issued to him this go around.
"If DHH lets us have more of the vaccine, then we are going to give it out. That's what we do," Savoie added.
State officials say Carl's Thrifty Way Pharmacy received another vaccine supply because its what they consider a high volume participating provider.
"We almost gave out about 1,000 does at the church. We got a bunch of independent pharmacist from the area to come in and we just basically had a mass vaccination clinic," Savoie noted.
"That's what we 're going to do from now now on. We decided we're going to go ahead and pool our resources because it takes a lot of man power to do it correctly," he added.
Savoie says being able to vaccinate people against a potentially deadly virus, gives true meaning to what he does as a pharmicist.
"It's the grand-moms who will get to hold their grand-children again. Just a lot of the old people are closed up in their houses; and they don't want to go out. All those things are so important. I just want to be able to give them another life," Savoie explained.