Waitlists grow for COVID-19 vaccine at Alberta pharmacies – CTV
November 04, 2025
Alberta’s new COVID-19 immunization program, which now requires most people to pay at least $100 for a vaccination, is facing more backlash as some private pharmacies run low on supply, leaving Albertans on waitlists.
At Lewis Estates Pharmacy in Edmonton, only two boxes of Pfizer doses remained this week.
Mauli Patel, the pharmacy manager, says there are days when four to five people come in asking for the vaccine, but she can’t help most of them.
“We have to turn them away,” she said.
In Calgary, the situation is similar. Randy Howden, a pharmacist at the Crowfoot Medicine Shoppe, says they have had no insight into when more doses may arrive.
“We have no transparency right now into the supply chain,” he said. “I have no idea when more vaccines will be coming or how much we’ll get.”
Unless one is considered a high-risk Albertan, such as health care workers, and exempt from paying for the COVID-19 vaccine, people can get their shot from a pharmacy or a government-run public health clinic.
