Preparing for the Waiting Period in the Pharmacy Following COVID-19 Vaccinations

Pharmacy Times® interviewed Michael Flannery, PharmD, the assistant director of pharmacy operations at the University of Rochester Medical Center, on the process for managing the required waiting period in the pharmacy following vaccination with the recently authorized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines.

Alana Hippensteele: I understand there's also a requirement to wait for 15 minutes following receiving the vaccination. Does the University of Rochester Medical Center have any plans to organize those that are waiting and manage the social distancing that may be required in that process?

Michael Flannery: Yeah, absolutely. The 15 minutes is something that we're abiding by for sure. So, we do have a recovery area set up, again socially distanced, for our staff members that have received the vaccine.

We have designated one person on the vaccination team to monitor that area and look for any side effects and make sure that we're in communication with the patients and our employees that have received the vaccine. So the 15 minute window is what we've been working with as well.