A Tribute To The Independent Pharmacist Who Vaccinated My Family
(And His Volunteer Army)
Last Wednesday, at exactly 11:10 am, I watched a pharmacist place a bandaid on my 16-year-old daughter’s arm. He stuck it neatly beneath the bunched up sleeve of her bulky sweater.
“There you go, sweetie,” he said gently. “Next time wear a t-shirt.” He smiled beneath his mask, deposited the needle in a red bin, and turned to the next teenager waiting to be stuck with the Pfizer vaccine.
Dr. Neal Smoller is a holistic pharmacist. He owns Village Apothecary, an independent pharmacy in Woodstock, NY. For the past four months, Smoller has been on a mission to vaccinate every person in Woodstock and the surrounding towns in Ulster County, starting with the most vulnerable people.
Smoller appealed directly to the CDC to obtain a supply of vaccines. He then organized a volunteer army of over 150 people. They hit the ground running. His first vaccine clinic was on January 13th at the Woodstock Community Center.
In late February, Smoller and his team traveled to churches, community centers, and high schools, educating people about the vaccine and immunizing Ulster County’s elderly population.
By April, they’d secured a space in an abandoned Best Buy store in Kingston, NY, just 7 miles from my…
