The looming pharmacy crisis in America
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2023
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Pharmacists at major chain stores like CVS and Walgreens are at a breaking point. Many workers have staged walkouts, saying they are overworked, understaffed and risking patient safety.
About:
Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, On Point is WBUR’s award-winning, daily public radio show and podcast. Its unique combination of original reporting, first-person stories, and in-depth analysis creates an experience that makes the world more intelligible and humane. Deep dives. Original stories. Fresh takes.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, it's Meghna here with a small request before today's episode. |
| 0:03.4 | We really appreciate that you listen to the Onpoint podcast, but we'd like to know a little bit more |
| 0:08.8 | about your listening preferences so that we can serve you better. |
| 0:12.2 | If you've got a few minutes to take the on-point survey, |
| 0:15.0 | it would be a huge help. |
| 0:17.0 | It's at WBU.org |
| 0:18.0 | slash survey, or click the link in the episode show notes. |
| 0:22.0 | Now, on with today's show. |
| 0:27.6 | This is on point. |
| 0:28.6 | I'm Megna Chuck Robardi. |
| 0:30.5 | Across the country, pharmacy workers |
| 0:32.3 | are walking off the job to protest what they call unsafe working conditions at some of the biggest retail chains. |
| 0:39.0 | Earlier this year thousands of workers walked off the job at CVS and Walgreen stores in 15 |
| 0:46.0 | states including New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Florida, Texas and |
| 0:50.8 | Illinois. The action was dubbed Farmageddon, a protest by pharmacists against |
| 0:56.9 | what they say are unreasonable and unsafe working conditions at the biggest |
| 1:01.6 | chain pharmacies in the United States. |
| 1:04.0 | One of their major concerns under staffing. |
| 1:07.0 | Protesters say the issue isn't a shortage of pharmacists or pharmacy techs, |
| 1:12.0 | but a shortage of workers who want to do these jobs at big chain retail stores, |
| 1:17.0 | where they say workers are already burning out. |
| 1:20.0 | According to the American Pharmacist Association, the industry has approximately 7,500 job |
... |
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