On Thursday All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists urged the central government to consider the 9.4 lakh chemists and staff as being on essential duty and give them priority in Covid-19 vaccinations.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the organization has said that despite their repeated appeal, GOI has so far not heeded their request for priority vaccination.

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If they continued to be ignored, they will have no option but join the lockdown to protest as well as save their own lives. Irrespective of the associated dangers during the second wave of the pandemic, every chemist in the country has been continuously providing services. AIOCD president JS Shinde and General Secretary Rajiv Singhal said in the statement that dispensing and distribution of medicine is nothing less important than doctors, nurses hospital staff, and sanitisation workers.

They claimed that since March 2020, more than 650 chemists and pharmacists have lost their lives due to infection by Covid19. The chemists, pharmacists and their staff are most vulnerable to infection as they continuously & closely interact with patients at shop counters.

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In a study published on October 21, 2020 in the Journal of Pharmaceutical policy and practice, the impact of the pandemic on the pharmacists was studied. In the study a total of 545 responses from pharmacy professionals across 31/54 Commonwealth countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific, were recorded and studied. Majority of the respondents had reported being at least somewhat worried (90%) and more than 65% were very worried or extremely about the impact of Covid-19 on them personally and professionally. Nearly two-thirds of respondents stated finding it somewhat difficult or very difficult to work effectively during the pandemic. Challenges mostly faced by pharmacy professionals working remotely included; general anxiety about the impact of Covid-19 on their lives (12%), and difficulties in communicating with their co-workers (12%). Most pharmacy professionals had not previously been actively involved in a global health emergency (82%) nor obtained training on global/public health emergency preparedness (62%).

The study gives strength and credence to the arguments presented by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists with respect to the strain faced by the professionals like chemists and pharmacists in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic.