January 2021 Hopkins Center Drug Newsletter

January 2021

What's Happening this month:

January 30th - Double Loyalty Points

Discount Policy

Every Tuesday is Senior Discount Day. Seniors receive 10% off all non-prescription purchases.

If an item is on clearance—you get the clearance price. There is no discount on top of the clearance price. If you have a coupon for an item, you may use the coupon for the item, or use your discount, but they cannot be combined. To clarify, you may only use one discount per purchase. You may use the 10% off, your coupon, or get the clearance price, but you cannot use a combination of discounts.

If you have loyalty reward money to use, you may use the loyalty rewards for payment towards your purchase.

Change in the Loyalty Reward Certificates:

In the past, you were mailed your loyalty reward certificate in the mail. We are no longer mailing certificates as we can now redeem your points at the register at the point of sale. If you have loyalty reward dollars to use when you ring up your purchases at the counter, the clerk will tell you that you have $xx.xx dollars in rewards that you can redeem, and they will ask you if you want to redeem those dollars on this purchase.

Your receipt shows you how many loyalty points that you have accumulated. Remember that 250 points equals $10.00 in rewards. Due to the busy holiday season, we are still working on updating the rewards that transferred over from the old system, and hope to have that done this month.

Updating phone numbers:

When you pick up a prescription, you may be asked to update your allergies and phone number for us. We are asking anyone who didn’t have allergies listed in our old system to verify with us that you have no allergies, or list them for us if you do have allergies. We want to make sure that our system is up-to-date so that nothing gets dispensed that you may have an allergy to. If you had allergies listed in our old system, those allergies did transfer over and have been updated in your file.

We now have the ability to text with our new system. However, we do need to update phone numbers to cell phone numbers if you wish to receive a text from us when your prescription is ready, or if there are any issues with your prescriptions. We do have a form at the register for you to fill out that will update your phone number and give us permission to text you.

If you use the RxLocal App or patient portal on the website to text us a message, those messages are HIPAA secure. If it doesn’t come through the app or the website patient portal, those messages are not HIPAA secure and the use of private information should not be used. If you have any questions about what can or cannot be used on text messages, please ask at the pharmacy.

COVID Vaccine

We have had a lot of questions about COVID vaccines, so we will try to address those questions here for everyone.

*Will Center Drug be giving the COVID vaccine?

Yes, we will be able to vaccinate you at Center Drug; however, we will probably not receive any vaccine until phase 2 vaccinations start –which is the general public (unless something changes in the distribution system between now and then). We will announce on our website, in-store and via social media when we have the vaccine available and when we will be making appointments.

*Is the vaccine safe?

Yes, the vaccine is safe. The reason it was able to be brought into emergency use so quickly is because it uses technology that has been being studied for over a decade. It uses mRNA technology. Vaccines that use mRNA do not contain live virus, and do not carry a risk of causing disease in the vaccinated person. The mRNA from the vaccine never enters the nucleus of the cell and does not affect or interact with a person’s DNA. Like all vaccines, the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have been rigorously tested for safety before being authorized for use in the United States. These vaccines were tested in large clinical trials to make sure they meet safety standards. Thousands of patients participated in the trials to see how the vaccines offer protection to people of different ages, races, and ethnicities, as well as those with different medical conditions. Emergency authorization is only given to vaccines when the expected benefits outweigh any potential risks. The FDA and CDC continue to monitor safety and any side effects that people experience to make sure that even rare side effects are identified.

*There are two vaccines out there right now. One from Pfizer, and one from Moderna. Does it matter which one I get?

No, which ever vaccine you are offered, you should choose to get it. Both vaccines require 2 shots, and yes, you need to get both shots. The 1^st shot primes your immune system helping it to recognize the virus and starts building protection for you. The 2^nd shot strengthens your immune response. To get the most protection that the vaccine can offer, you need to get both shots. Even if you have unpleasant side effects from the 1^st shot, it is important that you make sure you get the 2^nd shot. You should make sure your 2nd shot is from the same manufacturer that your 1st shot was from.

*Will I get COVID from the vaccine?

No, you cannot get COVID from this vaccine. However, you may experience some side effects from the vaccine like you would with the flu vaccine. You may experience a sore arm, redness or warmth around the area of the injection, a fever, muscle aches, a headache, and fatigue. These symptoms usually will disappear in 3 to 5 days.

You may not see any of these side effects with the first shot, but after you get the 2^nd shot you will be more likely to see these side effects. These side effects appear because your immune system is doing what it is supposed to do, and it shows you that your body is working to build up immunity to the COVID disease.

*I have already had COVID-19, should I still get a vaccination when it comes out?

Yes, you should still get the vaccine because we do not know how long your immunity will last from the infection that you had. At this point, we don’t know how long your immunity will last from the vaccine either—time and continued studies will determine that, so it may not be as urgent that you get the vaccine, but you should still be vaccinated.

*Natural immunity vs. vaccination?

Both the COVID-19 disease and the vaccine are new, but we do know that receiving the COVID-19 vaccination is the safer choice than waiting to get the disease to provide immunity. We do know that COVID has caused very serious illness and death for a lot of people. If you do get COVID-19, you also risk giving it to loved ones who may also get very sick, or could die from it. You will not get COVID from the vaccine, and from what we have seen so far in the trials, there are very few side effects from getting the vaccine.

Center Drug strongly recommends that everyone get the COVID-19 vaccine once it is widely available. We will let you know by means of our website, in-store signage, and social media when we have the vaccine, and when you can make an appointment to get your shot!

If you want more information, go to www.cdc.gov/covid-19.

Flu Vaccine:

As of our last newsletter, we said we were sold out of flu vaccine for the year. Since then, more vaccine has been released, and we have both regular and High Dose vaccines in stock. If you haven't had a flu shot yet this season, please consider getting the vaccine soon. You don't want to have any other vaccines within a month of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Please call the pharmacy and make an appointment soon.

Delivery Fee:

As of February 1st, we will be increasing the delivery fee from $3.00 to $4.00 per delivery. The $4.00 delivery fee will be effective across all delivery areas. In the past, we had quoted a higher delivery fee for communities further out from Center Drug. That will no longer be the case as all deliveries will be $4.00 as of February 1st.

Consider grouping your prescriptions and over-the-counter needs into possibly one delivery per week to save yourself money on the fee. As we have stated in the past, you don't need to wait till you are down to your last tablet before you re-order your prescription. Most insurance companies give you a 5 day re-order window on a 30-day supply of medication, and a larger window on a 90-day supply. If you have no refills on a prescriptions, you need to allow at least 48-72 hours for your Doctor's office to respond. We have been finding that some offices are slower to respond to refill requests due to COVID and reduced staffing that they have in place.

With our new system, we can put medications on auto-refill for you if you like. Please inquire at the pharmacy if you would like to use this service. We won't put any prescription on auto-fill unless you request us to.

All prescriptions will be delivered next-day to help us better plan out our delivery routes, and be the most efficient as we can. As always, we do understand if you have an emergency antibiotic or pain medication that you will need the same day, and we will always get that to you as soon as we can. But, in general, we will deliver all deliveries next day. We prefer to keep any weekend deliveries to a minimum because we only have one delivery person on Saturday and Sunday.