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Arkansas pharmacists concerned over lack of vaccine awareness

While vaccine numbers continue to rise in Arkansas, some pharmacists are still worried about those empty appointment times.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — While vaccine numbers continue to rise in Arkansas, some pharmacists are still worried about those empty appointment times. 

It's almost been a week since Governor Asa Hutchinson opened up eligibility for all Arkansans aged 16 and older. Some pharmacists said they just aren't seeing the same rush they have in phases past for people to put their names on the list.

This is why some, like Cody Turner, believe people may not even know they're eligible.

"There's still just so many people who haven't been vaccinated and it's hard to imagine they just don't want it," he said. 

It's something Turner, Village Health Mart East Gate Pharmacist, first noticed with the opening of Phase 1C in the middle of March.

Now, with all Arkansans 16 and older eligible and appointments at his pharmacies less than halfway booked, Turner believes there's a lack of awareness issue.

"People have been bombarded with information about the vaccine for so long now, that even those who want the vaccine, they just kind of tuned it out because it's not really applied to them," he said.

After talking to community members over the past week, Turner realized it's not just hesitancy adding to low demand, but eligibility unknowns. 

He believes the only way to solve this issue is through word of mouth.

"You tell one person to tell 10 other people and each of them tell 10 other people, eventually everyone will know they are eligible to get the vaccine," Turner said.

Lelan Stice said even though he hasn't seen this with his own eyes at his pharmacy, Doctor's Orders in Pine Bluff, he isn't ruling it out.

"It could be a piece of, that's our world. We think everybody in the world knows about it as pharmacists," he said.

Demand hasn't been what Stice expected it to be since eligibility opened up all the way. On Tuesday his pharmacy has 400 appointments available and only 100 scheduled.

Recently, Stice even accepting walk-in's as demand dwindles.

"We went ahead and worked them into our schedule and so we're moving forward with doing that. We're able to handle that volume," he said.

This week while the state is expected to receive 25,000 more doses, pharmacists are calling on the public to step in line.

"We've got to get there, we've got to get to that 70%, so we can truly get back to normal," Stice said.

Stice added that he does believe there is still a hesitancy issue in our state, especially with minority and younger populations.

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