F or many Texans involved in healthcare, the coronavirus pandemic posed challenges that presented severe consequences: podiatrists unable to perform routine foot exams for patients in nursing home facilities; chiropractors altering the adjustment schedules of clients in the middle of therapy; surgeons delaying elective procedures in order to provide triage space for COVID-19 treatment, and nurses uprooting their lives to serve patients across the country; the list goes on and on.

Despite the strain that the pandemic placed on healthcare professionals in Texas, pharmacists, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians have once again proven their worth as vital members of the healthcare community. In fact, COVID-19 may have been the greatest opportunity in decades to advance and secure the future of our profession.

As an older, non-traditional pharmacy student with a degree in agricultural economics, my perspective of pharmacy has constantly evolved since I began pharmacy school in 2019. After losing my mother to cancer in 2017, I began to look for a career beyond my family’s small business that would allow me to have the impact that my mother’s oncologist and oncology pharmacist had on my family.

My brother Cody and I were both accepted into the Ben and Maytee Fisch College of Pharmacy at the University of Texas at Tyler in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Since that time, we have learned that the profession is dealing with significant change.

From pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform, community pharmacy workload requirements, the increasing need for pharmacy residency experience in order to provide clinical care at an institutional setting, the imbalance between new graduates and new pharmacy job creation, and the growing student debt load of the average pharmacy graduate ($175,000), our profession is faced with obstacles that are unique and require innovation to solve.

COVID-19 provided our profession with a platform to shine and a mechanism by which we can address the obstacles standing in our way. By taking the lead on immunization, pharmacists were able to showcase their worth each day by serving their communities and fellow Texans.

In my home of Smith County, student pharmacists from our college were able to volunteer for shifts with faculty preceptors to administer vaccines via drive-in vaccination hubs, administering more than 1,000 vaccines each day at our local fairground facility and convention center complex. Community pharmacies like Brookshire Grocery Company also dedicated multipurpose facilities with lots of space to administer vaccines to hundreds of Texans per day. Finally, institutions like Christus Trinity Mother Frances offered vaccinations to both healthcare staff and their families.

COVID-19 gave the Texas Pharmacy Association (TPA) even more bargaining power to tackle PBM reform in the Texas Legislature last spring, addressing and mitigating one of our obstacles for the future of the profession. As a student pharmacist, this made me beam with pride knowing that those that have gone before me are sacrificing their time and lending their expertise to make a better future for my me and my brother as pharmacists.

Overall, COVID-19 has given me a greater appreciation of pharmacy and the adaptability of our institutions to continue to produce the most accessible and versatile healthcare professionals. With the nation now dealing with another variant (Omicron) and COVID-19 booster vaccines available to eligible patients, our profession continues to demonstrate its worth and resilience to fellow Texans.

Of the seven core values of my college of pharmacy, optimism is my favorite. Despite the unique obstacles facing pharmacists today, I truly believe the best days of our profession are still ahead.