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María Cruz Sierra has a central pharmacy in Madrid, next to the Plaza de España. Early in the morning he had already received a visit from two people who wanted to buy a self-diagnostic antigen test without a prescription, for having been contacts of Covid-positive people. Of course,
in case of testing positive, they must notify the health authority to confirm it with a PCR,
as explained by this pharmacist, since in Madrid there is no system in place for the pharmacist to communicate the result.
This is not the case in Navarra and Cantabria,
where pharmacists from both autonomous regions have even begun to report the first positives, as they assure this medium from the respective Official Associations of Pharmacists (COF).
Today is the first day that these tests can be officially sold,
although some pharmacies have been ahead of the date. Not in vain, they had been accumulating tests since last May, when the Government published the draft of the modification of Royal Decree 1662/2000, of September 29. At that time, Spain had a cumulative incidence of 166.32 cases, when we now exceed 600. In order to facilitate proper dispensing and contribute to the control of the pandemic, the General Council of COF has published, in collaboration with the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Sanitary Products (Aemps) and with the endorsement of the Ministry of Health, the
Community pharmacist guide for the dispensing of self-diagnostic products for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigens
.
The objective is to
provide the pharmaceutical professional with complete and detailed information focused on the informed dispensing of this type of test.
Rita de la Plaza, president of the COF of
Cantabria
, explains the two ways they have to communicate the positive to the Ministry: "One is through a web environment. But the newest thing is a mobile application, which they are going to put up next week. With this application, which only toilets can have and is already used in health centers, a screen capture is made with the Social Security card and the result of the test, and you are immediately summoned for a PCR. "
In turn, Navarra
signed an agreement with the Department of Health last week. Marta Galipienzo, president of the COF of Navarra, details to this medium that it was the Department of Health who contacted them "because they were concerned about the traceability of the results and the fact that citizens did not communicate them." For this reason,
Navarra pharmacies can collaborate in different ways:
"We can supervise the self-sample in the pharmacy, verifying and communicating the result" (with the prior informed consent of the person), "We can help the patient remotely or we can be a center of data collection ", for which the pharmacist, in case of registering a positive, sends an email to the Public Health Institute of Navarra.
Other communities, such as
Murcia and Extremadura, are finalizing the details. Madrid does not now have any new protocol signed
with the administration for the traceability of the results of these self-tests, although it did carry out a pioneering campaign last February and March, with pharmacists carrying out more than 5,000 antigen tests in drugstores in high-incidence areas. Luis González Díez, president of the Madrid COF, recalls the need for registration: "Pharmacists are collaborating from the beginning and, as health professionals, we are in a position to perform antigen tests, record the results obtained and also help in the vaccination, as we have shown by immunizing 12,000 classmates at the collegiate headquarters. In the end, the Government has preferred other routes that, in the case of tests,they do not ensure the control of the results obtained by the epidemiological surveillance system and they oblige people to go to health centers to confirm the positives obtained. "
"From the point of view of health care, being able to record the results places the pharmacy where it needs to be. We are not just dispensers. They should allow us to collaborate, because we have shown in the pandemic that we are at street level, close to the citizen and we are health workers.
That we could help them with the registration process, advice and follow-up, which has not always been possible, would be necessary, "
says Sierra.
Covid self-diagnostic antigen test without prescription Bernardo Díaz
Cecilio Venegas, president of the Badajoz COF, with a pharmacy in the center of Badajoz, explains that many people have come: "Just as we had a demand for prescription tests in recent days. Of course,
the demand has been much higher now than the recipe has been removed.
The world is divided into barriers and facilitators. The recipe, in this case, was a very clear barrier, and it was not like that of the trains, which saves your life. This was an absolutely unnecessary barrier, because the doctor has prescribed very few tests, and this does serve to decongest the health system ".
And he adds that the delay in approving the dispensation of these tests is due to pressure received from large surfaces, among others.
Months denying test dispensing
This Madrid pharmaceutical company bought
the first tests in May at a price much higher than what is now being offered to
drug
stores,
as it explains,
and has been denying these tests to users for months.
Last Monday I had a whole French family with their suitcases at the door ready to take some of them; Two days before, the same thing happened with two other French people, who needed them for work reasons (although these tests are not useful for traveling) and the laboratories were already closed (it was Saturday morning). And it is that France and other countries are ahead of Spain in terms of sale of tests in pharmacies. "They didn't understand that he didn't have it," Sierra explains. And he adds: "People want to know.
It seems to me a very responsible act to want to know your result if you have been in contact with a case. If you test positive, you go to a health center to have a PCR done.
Until now there was nothing. How many people have not thought they had a cold and have been spreading the virus? "
Today, first thing in the morning, two people have already entered. "They told me they had no symptoms, but they suspected a possible contact and wanted to have them at home. Obviously, if you do it without symptoms it will give you negative, but people, responsibly, want to have them."
The ideal, as detailed, is to take the test on the fifth day of having symptoms.
"Even so, the fact that we have a tool to control ourselves is fantastic, although
if you are without symptoms the result is not 100% reliable."
Sierra comments that there have been people who have had to explain how to do it and others have not, "but they have told me that they preferred to go over it with me."
However, not all pharmacies have been ordering tests since May.
In fact, some located in a municipality in the Community of Madrid acknowledge to this media that they asked for tests last week and have not received them yet: "The cooperative is telling us that they will send us next week because they don't have any left."
What test does the pharmacy dispense without a prescription
Sierra explains that with the modification of the RD, pharmacies can now dispense both
antigen tests
(whose price ranges
between 10 and 12 euros)
and
antibodies (with a higher price, around 27 euros)
without a prescription
.
"Right now people demand antigen tests, because they are in a hurry to know their results if they have been in contact with a positive one," Sierra points out.
Among the antigen tests,
there are saliva
tests
(which Sierra does not have for now)
and nasal ones.
As for antibody tests, there are also two types: the one that detects the antibodies generated after passing the Covid and another specific to detect the
spike
antibodies
after the vaccine.
Regarding the nasal antigen tests, he explains that they carry a stick to insert into both holes:
"If 2.5 cm-3 cm are inserted it is enough, but you have to have a good time to collect enough sample.
Then comes a tube to introduce the developer reagent, you put it in contact, and the tube comes with a built-in dropper. From there you get three drops that are put into the well of the
cassette
where you deposit the sample. You wait 15 minutes and a Control line appears to verify that it has been done correctly. If a second line appears, it is positive. If not, it is negative. "
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