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NHS England is preparing for the huge task of delivering COVID-19 vaccines, including through community pharmacies...Delivery of a COVID-19 vaccine to the public will require the participation of “as many of the workforce who are trained in vaccination as possible” from community pharmacy...Jill Loader, deputy director of pharmacy commissioning at NHS England and NHS Improvement, said there were “a number of different ways community pharmacy can get involved” in the COVID-19 vaccine delivery programme, with some community pharmacies expected to be commissioned as a vaccination site through a locally enhanced service...“We anticipate that we are going to need to use as many of the workforce who are trained in vaccination as possible,” she said...READ MORE

A draft NHS England report on overprescribing leaked to HSJ [paywall], proposes that the law should require wider access to healthcare data, in a bid to improve patient safety...The review carried out for health secretary, Matt Hancock, highlights the issue of poor interoperability between NHS computer systems, which means clinicians cannot see or understand what medications patients are taking or when a medication should be reviewed...According to report author, chief pharmaceutical officer Keith Ridge, prescribers should be identified in the electronic health record so they can be contacted by other clinicians. He adds that a free-text box should be created in EHRs so clinicians can explain why a certain medication has been prescribed...READ MORE

Despite APhA’s concerns that compliance with certain Drug Supply Chain Security Act requirements undermines pandemic response efforts, FDA has confirmed that “dispensers,” including pharmacies, must meet a requirement that goes into effect on November 27, 2020. APhA and pharmacy partners had requested that FDA delay enforcement of certain portions of the DSCSA—also known as “track and trace”—mandate...READ MORE

CVS Health is pushing for pharmacy technicians to be allowed to administer COVID-19 vaccines...The healthcare giant is hiring more than 10,000 full- and part-time pharmacy technicians in Q4 in anticipation of flu season, and urging for them to have an expanded scope of practice that would allow them to vaccinate patients for the novel coronavirus under supervision from an immunization-certified pharmacist...CVS said that allowing technicians to administer vaccines would "help fill the urgent need to safely and quickly scale distribution of a vaccine and extend the capacity of the health care workforce to address the pandemic."...READ MORE

Amazon is getting more serious about pharmacy...This announcement is much less disruptive than it appears to be. Amazon is copying the GoodRx discount card model—including GoodRx’s partnership with Express Scripts. At the same time, Amazon is launching a mail pharmacy that will accept insurance and be in PBM pharmacy networks...Amazon’s actions are another negative headwind for retail pharmacies, but not a fatal blow to the system. Perhaps Amazon will one day become a true disrupter...Amazon Pharmacy operates as a home delivery pharmacy. It is built on the backbone of PillPack, which Amazon acquired for $700 million in 2018...Just like any other pharmacy, Amazon relies on your pharmacy benefit plan to determine your out-of-pocket expenses. Nothing magical here...READ MORE

The online colossus opened an online pharmacy Tuesday that allows customers to order medication or prescription refills, and have them delivered to their front door in a couple of days...The potential impact of Amazon’s arrival in the pharmaceutical space rippled through that sector immediately. Before the opening bell, shares of CVS Health Corp. fell almost 9%. Walgreens and Rite Aid both tumbled more than 10%...Amazon will begin offering commonly prescribed medications Tuesday in the U.S., including creams, pills, as well as medications that need to stay refrigerated, like insulin. Shoppers have to set up a profile on Amazon’s website and have their doctors send prescriptions there. The company said it won’t ship medications that can be abused, including many opioids...READ MORE

Needs in the European Region in order for pharmacy to deliver breakthroughs for better primary health care are described in a new report...The report summarises the key messages from a conference for the European Region, held by FIP in collaboration the Turkish Pharmacists’ Association in 2019, which facilitated mapping and prioritisation of pharmaceutical practice, service, education and workforce development needs in the context of primary health care. At that conference, pharmacy leaders and pharmacists representing 37 countries in the region committed to deliver better primary health care through pharmacy, and the report presents findings of a survey of FIP member organisations conducted between June and September 2020 to evaluate national pharmacy priorities and strategies towards the implementation of that commitment...READ MORE

To help pharmacists advise people on COVID-19 tests, FIP has...issued a guidance document produced by its SARS-CoV-2 Testing Working Group, which has evaluated the diagnostic testing methods and devices currently available...The document covers how different types of diagnostic tests work and the interpretation of results. It also addresses the question of whether or not the presence of antibodies confers immunity to SARS-CoV-2, and makes recommendations on information to give to patients who have tested positive or negative...READ MORE

Police in Oakland and other East Bay cities have been dealing with a rash of brazen robberies and other incidents since Tuesday night...Among those businesses hit, was Oakland's longtime High Street Pharmacy...It started with a blow torch at the back door of the 73-year-old pharmacy, as seen on the store's surveillance cameras. Several men show up just after 10:30 p.m., cut their way through a metal back door and then the marathon begins...For five hours, until after 3:30 in the morning, dozens of people run into the pharmacy, smashing computers, wrecking displays, stealing drugs and other merchandise and ransacking a business that..."We feel like we deserve a little bit better," said owner Gareen Avakian, who told us she's heard from neighbors who called 911 almost as soon as the brazen break-in began. An alarm company also apparently tried to call, but Oakland police didn't respond for five hours...READ MORE

Walmart has filed suit against the United States Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration, asking a US District Court judge to clarify the roles and responsibilities of pharmacists and pharmacies under the Controlled Substances Act...Although Walmart’s pharmacies have blocked “thousands” of questionable physicians from having their opioids scripts filled by its pharmacists, “certain DOJ officials have long seemed more focused on chasing headlines than fixing the crisis,” the retailer said. “They are now threatening a completely unjustified lawsuit against Walmart, claiming in hindsight pharmacists should have refused to fill otherwise valid opioid prescriptions that were written by the very doctors that the federal government still approves to write prescriptions.”...READ MORE