MPP Oosterhoff Welcomes Expansion of Scope of Practice for Pharmacists

May 14, 2026

Beamsville – To protect Ontario’s health-care system and provide more connected and convenient care to people around the province, the province is allowing pharmacists to administer additional publicly funded vaccines that protect against six diseases and assess and prescribe for a further nine common ailments. This historic expansion of their scope of practice will improve access to care and reduce pressure on the health-care system by empowering health professionals to provide care to the full extent of their training and making pharmacies a one-stop location for convenient, everyday care.

“From expanding the scope of practice of pharmacists, nurses or midwives, our government is increasing patient access to publicly funded health care across the province,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West.

“This expansion of care allowing pharmacists to administer additional vaccines and assess and prescribe for further common ailments will provide more people with the right care in the right place.”

“Our government is delivering on our plan to make it more convenient for people to access the care they need, closer to home,” said Hon. Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

“Ontarians have experienced firsthand the convenience of pharmacist prescribing and this latest announcement continues our progress to reduce wait times and let more of our province’s health-care professionals work to the full extent of their expertise.”

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, Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Shingles.

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.

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 thirty-three. Starting July 2026, pharmacists and qualified health-care practitioners will be able to treat the following ailments, including calluses and corns, dandruff, dry eye, head lice, groin itch, mild headache, nasal congestion, ringworm and 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 nineteen common ailments. Today, over ninety-nine percent of all Ontario’s pharmacies now participate in the program, connecting people to care in every corner of the province.

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.

These future expansions will unlock additional capacity across the system by enabling professionals to deliver treatments and perform more procedures, helping people get faster access to care. Once implemented, these changes will improve access for those in rural, Northern, Indigenous and underserved communities, while reducing wait times and easing pressure on primary care and emergency departments.

As part of Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the Ontario government is strengthening all aspects of the health-care system, including making it easier for highly skilled, regulated health-care professionals, like pharmacists, to work to the full extent of their training and expertise to provide people more connected and convenient care.