'Ring, ring, ring': Harrison City pharmacy partner recalls initial rush for vaccine

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When covid-19 vaccines became available to the general public, Jack Moschgat never anticipated the demand that would flood through several pharmacies of which he is part owner.

“I think they originally started with 65 and over, that’s when it just got really, really crazy,” said Moschgat, 30, of Pittsburgh. “We were getting probably 500 calls a day at one point. We couldn’t even do anything else, it was just out of control. The phones were just, every second of every day just ring, ring, ring. It was overwhelming.”

Moschgat is one of four owners of Mainline Pharmacy, which has locations across Westmoreland, Indiana, Cambria and Somerset counties, including the Bushy Run Pharmacy in Harrison City. Across all Mainline Pharmacy locations, about 130,000 vaccine doses were administered by mid-May, according to Moschgat.

Calls regarding the vaccine first started in September and October, but the pharmacy did not receive vaccine doses until December. At that point, only health care workers were eligible for the shot, he noted. Once the vaccine opened up to older Pennsylvanians, the demand skyrocketed.

That demand prompted Moschgat — along with his father, Jerry; brother, Jeff; and John Pastorek, all partners in the business — to begin hosting clinics at several locations, including at St. Barbara Church in Harrison City, the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Saint Vincent College in Unity and Monroeville Mall.

The goal, according to Moschgat, was to inoculate every person who wanted a vaccine.

“We knew all of our patients that wanted it, they have been asking us for months and months about it. They were the first ones we got in because they’ve been asking us,” Moschgat said.

According to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, 10.2 million vaccinations were distributed throughout the state as of May 24. Of that, 1.2 million doses have been distributed in Allegheny County, while Westmoreland has seen 290,654 vaccine doses.

Demand has once again increased since the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization for Pfizer to vaccinate children 12 to 15. According to Moschgat, who noted a vaccine clinic was held at St. Barbara’s in mid-May, demand for that “group has been higher than I expected.”

He added that the pandemic, which thrust health care workers into the spotlight, has highlighted the importance of community pharmacies.

“If, one day, community pharmacies go away and this happens again, I don’t know what’s going to happen. … It’s really important, especially for independent pharmacies, to still exist and still be around,” Moschgat said.

As for the future of Mainline Pharmacy — which continued to expand over the past five years, including with the acquisition of Bushy Run Pharmacy — thoughts of further expansion will have to wait until the pandemic is over.

“Hopefully, we can get everybody around who wants it vaccinated. And, hopefully, some people who are on the fence will decide to get it, so we can get back to normal. And then we can figure out plans for the future. … But right now, this is the most important thing for us,” he said. “Just keeping all of our patients and everybody in the community safe.”