Galen Weston and his fellow Loblaws executives aren't just being accused of exacerbating the public's financial woes by jacking up the price of groceries, but also for messing with another basic necessity: immunizations.

One Toronto pharmacist has gone viral for sharing the story of why his two Pharmasave locations on Kingston Road in Toronto will no longer be providing flu shots and other inoculations due to what they call a mismanaged rollout by the province.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post that was shared widely this week, Lawler pharmacy owner Kyro Maseh quite boldly stated that "after administering thousands of vaccines over the past few years, we've made the tough decision to conclude our vaccine season, and possibly for all future seasons for publicly-funded vaccines."

He further explained in a thread that this fall's vaccine program has been the most problematic he's ever experienced in the province, pointing to the more extensive involvement of Shoppers Drug Mart — owned by Loblaws — as the key cause.

The vaccine rollout this year has been the worst we've experienced, raising questions about how the ministry of health operates. @ONThealth

— Kyro Maseh (@KyroMaseh) November 8, 2023

Maseh tells blogTO that Shoppers, a direct competitor, was assigned vaccine distribution for not just its own stores but also for roughly 400 independent Pharmasave locations this year.

"They had to ramp up operations virtually overnight. They're not equipped to do this," he said of the switch, adding that Pharmasave stakeholders protested the decision, but "were stonewalled" by the Ministry of Health.

As documented on X, Maseh's pharmacy has been receiving only "samplings" of the vaccine quantities ordered, often poorly packaged and without shipping labels — he's even received completely empty totes, which can cost nearly $200 to ship on the taxpayer's dime.

He also notes Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies received their stock some two weeks prior to the independents they were supplying, and got "supply that is clearly suficient for their stores while our stores are getting half of the stuff we're asking for."

So, he felt a need to step back from the whole ordeal, calling it a "logistical nightmare" and a "distribution plan that resembles sabotage."

It meant asking Shoppers Drug Mart, who typically deliver solely to their own pharmacies, to handle distribution to us (their competitor). A task they were understandably, not prepared for.

— Kyro Maseh (@KyroMaseh) November 8, 2023

Shoppers Drug Mart was tasked with handing the distribution of flu and COVID injections to 25 per cent pharmacies provincewide this season, and was selected to do so through a "competitive procurement process," the Ministry of Health (MOH) tells blogTO.

"As recently as yesterday, the Ministry of Health met with Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmasave, like we do with all our distribution partners, and continue to have regular touchpoints over the course of the rollout to manage any issues that may arise, including requests for additional vaccine supply allocation," an MOH representative said via email on Thursday.

But, Maseh says that these meetings of higher-ups have little impact to those on the ground level actually seeing patients.

"They're trying to reinvent the wheel for some reason — things were working, not the greatest, but they were working when we were using our regular distributer," he says, adding that though he feels awarding the contract to Shoppers/Loblaw Companies was "well-intended," it is clearly not working out well.

"If you're going to supply vaccines, supply them properly. Fix it, don't commit to the mistake, is my advice."