Decatur pharmacy owner works to stay on top of supply chain impacts

DECATUR, Ala. (WAFF) - Have you had trouble getting a medication filled?

It turns out supply chain issues are impacting pharmacies nationwide, including here in the Valley.

The owner of Guice Pharmacy tells WAFF they have run out of a couple medications over the last several months. He says they are back in stock now, and he’s sure all pharmacies are being impacted by this supply chain issue in some way.

“Especially on certain blood pressure medications I use a lot of, and I go ahead and buy a little extra and hopefully that gets me through until it comes back in stock,” Edward Guice said.

Edward Guice, the owner of Guice Pharmacy in Decatur, says thankfully strong communication with his supplier has kept the medications on his shelf.

“We’ve been real fortunate in knowing, people have told us. Suppliers have let us know, ‘hey we’re having a run on this, do you have a lot of people, I think we’re going to run short,’” he explained.

But even with ordering extra, Guice says he ran out of an anxiety medication.

“On a couple of drugs we’ve run out, and nobody has any and I actually planned ahead and had enough for two extra months, but I was out for two months. But nobody had any.”

He says he has everything for patients in stock now. Another impact on the supply chain issues..

“We have had to change manufactures, which I don’t like. Because the patient is like, this color’s changed or this shape has changed. And that causes some confusion,” he said.

But the drug remains the same.

Meanwhile, Guice says he has plenty of COVID vaccine booster shots.

“We’ve been busy, we’ve been giving a lot of booster shots, giving a lot of first shots as well. I ordered another 100 of both for next week and we haven’t run out, I would guess since the first of September. We’ve got it in and it’s been in ever since, so as far as I know there’s not a supply issue,” Guice said.

You don’t need to make an appointment to get a booster shot at Guice Pharmacy. You can come in Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a Moderna or JJ booster.

Guice also has plenty of flu shots left.

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