Thread by @JSODonoghue

One Breaux Bridge pharmacy tells me they had already signed up 70 people to get their 100 doses of vaccine by the end of last week and filled up the other 30 slots this morning. On top of that, they have 100 additional voicemails from people seeking the vaccine. #lalege #lagov

The pharmacy is going to spend all day today scheduling appointments with the people on their list...and tomorrow and Wednesday they will actually administer the shots. Again, there's only 10k doses at pharmacies and 480k people ages 70 and over just became eligible. #lalege

I just talked to another pharmacist from Opelousas who says that he opened the phones at 8 a.m. and has 200 people who want the vaccine already. He won't be giving out doses today. "We haven't even received the stuff yet." #lalege #lagov

This Opelousas pharmacist says they are scheduling people for appointments and putting together an "alternate list" of people who can show up quickly if someone else cancels. "We can't waste any doses. That's what we were told." #lalege #lagov

The pharmacist says each vial of the Moderna vaccine contains 10 doses. Once a vial is cracked, the doses have to be used in six hours. So they need backup people to come in if someone doesn't show up for their vaccine appointment. #lalege #lagov

This pharmacist also says that he thinks the roll out of vaccines to pharmacies could have been handled better. "Starting on the first Monday of the New Year? It's a nightmare." He says he has other patients that need medication as well.

And perhaps not surprisingly, another pharmacy I've called this morning just had a busy signal.

Now, I've talked to a Marksville pharmacist who says she isn't even making appointments yet because she doesn't want to do that until she has the vaccine in hand. (That should happen today or tomorrow). But she already has too many people on her waiting list. #lalege #lagov

She said people started calling her pharmacy Thursday shortly after @LouisianaGov's announcement. At that point, she didn't even know if her pharmacy was going to be one of the few that would receive the vaccine. #lalege #lagov

The Marksville pharmacist says people from other parishes are calling her pharmacy saying they are willing to drive a long distance if it means they can get vaccinated.

The Marksville pharmacist also says the timing of the vaccine coming to pharmacies is unfortunate. They already have a lot of work trying to deal with their regular customers who have switched insurance in the new year, etc. "This couldn't have happened at a worse time."

Even though this Marksville pharmacist describes being overwhelmed with phone calls about the vaccine, she's still happy to be offering the product. "I’m very confident in the product," she told me. "I want to be part of the change. I want to help us get back to normalcy.”

I just called the only pharmacy in St. Helena Parish. A pharmacist there says they have a list of 230 people for the 100 doses of vaccine they expect to get. They haven't started scheduling appointments yet either because they don't have the vaccine in hand yet.

The St. Helena pharmacist told me she -- personally -- is going to have to call people back and schedule appointments with them for later in the week.

The St. Helena parish pharmacist said the state told pharmacies that people should have to show their ID before getting vaccinated (to show their age). Health care workers have to show their work ID to receive the vaccine.

No answer at a New Iberia pharmacy I just called.

And there's a busy signal at a Jackson, La. pharmacy I just called.

And now I'm getting a "mailbox is full" message for a Pearl River pharmacy I tried to call.

I just reached the only Pharmacy in Evangeline Parish to get the #COVID19 vaccine. The pharmacist/owner there says they have 300 people on a list who want the vaccine and are only expected to get 100 doses. She says the phone has rung 500 times just today with COVID-19 requests.

Even WITHOUT the new COVID-19 vaccine, the Evangeline Parish pharmacist says the first Monday of the new year is typically the busiest day of the day for pharmacies as they help customers deal with insurance changes. Her pharmacy has also been closed for a few days.

The Evangeline pharmacist said her shop is struggling to fill people's normal prescriptions because they are being pummeled with calls about the COVID-19 vaccine they don't even have yet. "It is chaos is what it is." "I'm unable to function."

The Evangeline pharmacist says of the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine to pharmacies: "It definitely needed to be handled better or we needed to wait for more vaccines to get here" before the state distributed them to pharmacies. "We were given no guidance."

Interesting. The Evangeline pharmacist says she will be giving out 10 vaccines per day for 10 days. (Her pharmacy -- like all others -- has only been given 100 doses.) I've heard from others they are going to try to do everyone in a few days.

An Abbeville pharmacy told me that they will probably start vaccinating people later this week. They can't do it today because they are too busy dealing with their "normal customers" prescriptions and insurance changes. (This seems pretty typical.)

A Plaquemine pharmacy is basically going to try to have 10 people come in all at once every evening for the vaccination. That way they can ensure all 10 doses will be used and the vaccination process won't interfere with regular pharmacy business during the day.

A St. Francisville Pharmacy told me they started taking down names for people who wanted the vaccine in the middle of December. They won't be vaccinating people today, but they believe they will get through their 100 doses by the end of the week.

And I think that's it for my interviews of local pharmacists today. I appreciate all the pharmacists who talked to me on what has to be a very overwhelming day.