Pharmacists to provide additional direct health care delivery services

 

Posted May 11, 2026

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Beginning July 2026, pharmacists across the province will be able to administer six additional publicly funded vaccines for eligible Ontarians, including

• Tetanus

• Pertussis 

• Diphtheria 

• Pneumococcal 

• RSV

• Shingles vaccines

 

Under the current model, these publicly funded vaccines are only available to patients through a visit to a doctor’s office, walk-in clinic or other clinical settings.

 

Under the new expanded scope of practice, families will now be able to receive critical vaccines more easily at thousands of additional locations across the province, with pharmacy technicians and qualified staff able to administer all eligible vaccines.

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The province is also allowing pharmacists to assess and prescribe for nine additional common ailments, with plans to add up to five more in early 2027, bringing the total expanded number up to 33.

 

Starting July 2026, pharmacists and qualified health-care practitioners will be able to treat the following ailments:

• Calluses and corns

• Dandruff

• Dry eye

• Head lice 

• Jock itch

• Mild headache 

• Nasal congestion 

• Ringworm

• Warts

 

This expansion builds on the province’s previous actions to increase scope of practice which has seen Ontario pharmacies provide care in over 2.4 million assessments for the first 19 common ailments. 

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In addition to these changes, the government has now officially directed Ontario’s regulatory colleges for optometrists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, dental hygienists, denturists, and audiologists and speech-language pathologists to begin developing the regulatory framework that would further expand scopes of practice in their fields.