Pharmacyforward

Rear Admiral (RADM) Pamela Schweitzer - retired Chief Professional Officer of Pharmacy for the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) - talks to us about the roles and responsibilities of pharmacists during a public health crisis.  Dr. Schweitzer was responsible for providing leadership and coordination of USPHS pharmacy programs for the Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health & Human Services from 2014-2018. Key Lessons: Pharmacists play a critical role in the USPHS because they have a unique skill set. A pandemic, like COVID-19, requires a coordinated effort between the public and private sectors to address mass vaccination efforts as well as shortages of medications, testing, and personal protective equipment using an incident command structure. USPHS pharmacists are deployed to the hardest-hit zones to provide medical and scientific assistance.  With the COVID-19 pandemic, USPHS officers have been helping set-up community testing and mass-vaccination sites as well as provid