Ontario allowing pharmacists to treat more conditions, administer more vaccines

Ontario pharmacists will soon be allowed to administer more vaccines and treat more common ailments, as part of the government’s continuing moves to expand their scope of practice.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones says it will help people get faster access to care and ease pressure on primary care and emergency departments.

Starting this July, pharmacists will be able to give vaccinations for tetanus, whooping cough, diphtheria, respiratory syncytial virus, shingles and pneumococcal vaccines.

The provincial government has already allowed pharmacists to assess and treat 19 common ailments, and is now planning to add nine more, including head lice, nasal congestion, ringworm and warts.

Jones says there are plans to add five more to that list in early 2027.

The government has also directed Ontario’s regulatory colleges for optometrists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, dental hygienists, denturists, and audiologists and speech-language pathologists to develop frameworks for expansions to those professions’ scopes of practice.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press