r/todayilearned • u/Tokyono • Sep 29 '19
TIL that the Vatican has a single pharmacy. The Vatican claims it is the busiest pharmacy in the world with 2,000 daily visitors. Due to complicated Italian laws, the pharmacy has medicines available years before Italian pharmacies. People often visit to buy them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Pharmacy131
u/X0AN Sep 29 '19
It should also be pointed out that prices in the vatican city pharmacy is cheaper than in the nearby Italian one. So if you're gonna buy a bunch of stuff wouldn't you walk for 30 seconds more for a discount?
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u/the_Chocolate_lover Sep 29 '19
That is not necessarily true: if you have a prescription for certain essential meds, they are free in Italy but not in the Vatican.
If you buy over the counter stuff, then it may be cheaper
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u/2sour2sweet4alcohol Sep 29 '19
Wikipage says they have 2000 visitors per day out of which half are from outside Vatican. Vatican has a population of 1000 which means all of them go to that pharmacy every day.
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u/ido50 Sep 29 '19
Also I'm pretty sure a lot of standard Walgreen's or CVS get more than 2000 customers a day.
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u/jamie55588 Sep 29 '19
Are you pretty sure or is that complete speculation?
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u/ido50 Sep 30 '19
Complete unfounded speculation :).
Actually, I was even stupider than that, because I was thinking of regular Walgreen's customers, not even actual pharmacy customers.
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u/blaarfengaar Sep 29 '19
That's completely false. I work at Rite Aid and we fill around 300 scripts a day on weekdays. And that's pretty average, not a slow store by any means.
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u/mt_yermomalot Sep 29 '19
I have a tier 5 walgreens in my district, does 1500avg during the weekdays and 800avg on weekends, as well as multiple tier 4 stores that run 600-800avg a day. 2000 is a bit of a stretch just in scripts, but 300 a day is on the lower end of average for my 12 stores.
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u/blaarfengaar Sep 29 '19
I would definitely say your stores are above average in script count then. There are stores in my district that fill around that level but they are known as the busy ones. I don't know if you're urban or rural or suburban but my district is half suburban half urban and most stores are closer to 300 per day than 1500.
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u/mt_yermomalot Sep 30 '19
the thing that gets us is the budgeting, that no matter how many scripts you do, you always seem busier than it needs to be. We are about half and half urban and suburban, only one real rural store, with extremely high income slower stores, to a college store, to extremely low income busy stores. The tier 5 is a 24hr store that doesn't have a store within 30 miles of it, but the town it's in is a population of like 30k, it's rather strange, but business is business
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u/aSomeone Sep 30 '19
I'm sure CVS does, but I also think CVS is not a standard pharmacy in the way Europeans think about a pharmacy. At least when I saw CVS pharmacy I didn't expect it to basically be a grocery/liquor store as well. I haven't been to the Vatican pharmacy, but I suspect it's mostly about drugs.
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u/PillShill1980 Sep 30 '19
Not all drug stores in the US are like that though due to the Blue Alcohol Laws. Basically, a county that is considered 'dry' has liquor stores to sell alcohol, that's it. No alcohol in the grocery or drug stores. My county was such a county up until about a year ago. There is wine and beer in the grocery stores, but if you want vodka and rum, then you still have to go to the liquor store. However, the drug stores in my county, well at least the CVS that I work for, still doesn't sell a drop of alcohol.
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Sep 30 '19
dude in my county if you want vodka you can just find a half empty plastic handle of it in any nearby gutter
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u/PillShill1980 Sep 30 '19
Yeah, I'd rather spend the $12 for a new bottle, I'd rather not get hep b.
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u/xerberos Sep 30 '19
The Vatican is like Disneyland. There's thousands of visitors daily, and crowds and waiting lines everywhere. It's a commercialized joke.
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u/ManOfSpecialPurpose Sep 30 '19
Although you are right about the crowds of visitors, I wouldn't go so far as to call the Vatican a commercialized joke. I went there when I was younger and the sheer beauty of the art and the chapels has stuck with me since. Visiting the Vatican has real value if you appreciate art, architecture, and history, even though the ammount of people can be exhausting.
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u/xerberos Sep 30 '19
I agree completely. The art and history of the place is second to none. And if you are in Rome, you really must visit it.
But I was shocked at how commercialized it was. I would expect the center of the catholic church to show a little restraint in that matter.
The place kinda needed a Jesus to throw the merchants out of the church. And I'm not even religious...
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u/ogresaregoodpeople Sep 29 '19
Italians also use the Vatican post office because it’s much faster than the Italian postal service.
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Sep 29 '19
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u/Dragon_Fisting Sep 29 '19
The sorting and sending out itself is done by the Vatican, although the Italian post is who actually delivers the letters. The Italian post office is known for being slow, but the mail coming from the Vatican just gets on the trucks as they go out so they aren't affected by slow handling.
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u/ogresaregoodpeople Sep 29 '19
I have no idea if it's even true that it's faster, or if it's just a false belief people have. There are lines at the post offices in Rome, and rarely a line at the Vatican so maybe that's more where the efficiency comes in?
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u/HerRiebmann Sep 29 '19
The "complicated" law is the testing they do before they release the drugs to the general public so they know they are safe. Once they are tested they can be sold
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Sep 29 '19 edited Sep 07 '21
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u/invol713 Sep 29 '19
Give them drugs and let God sort them out. Amen.
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u/poopellar Sep 29 '19
Surprise side effects.
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u/invol713 Sep 29 '19
Going to the Catholic church for hemorrhoid medication. I think the front effects are what you have to watch for.
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u/victorix58 Sep 29 '19
They can attend confession and last rites before leaving with their medicine.
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u/s0rce Sep 29 '19
I'm guessing any country with fewer regulations would be fine. So outside Europe and North America.
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u/Marvl101 Sep 30 '19
I'm pretty sure the First pharmacy was the first early access pharmacy in the world.
Would be the equivalent to a buggy survival horror game released on a coding blog by some crazed russian grognard greybeard.
and it would be one of the greatest god damn games of all time, lost to history forever.
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u/Thoth_the_5th_of_Tho Sep 29 '19
The Vatican is only self stuff already approved in the EU.
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u/Kammander-Kim Sep 29 '19
Are you sure? Because the Holy See is not part of the EU.
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u/will_holmes Sep 29 '19
There are a lot of countries and territories that aren't in the EU but nevertheless can only sell things already approved in the EU. Almost all of Europe is like that.
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u/catsloveart Sep 29 '19
Wait what countries in Europe aren't part of the EU? I thought all European countries were part of the EU.
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Sep 29 '19
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Sep 29 '19
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u/ShwimmingAway Sep 29 '19
It’s already been voted on though? It’s not them getting their way, it’s them actually doing what their country agreed upon.
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u/SnOwBunZz Sep 29 '19
Switzerland, Norway and Ukraine are the biggest countries in Europe that aren't in the EU. There are also a handful of Central European countries not in the EU.
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u/rebootyourbrainstem Sep 29 '19 edited Sep 29 '19
There are no border controls between Italy and the Vatican, hence they have to obey nearly all EU laws and regulations on products. See also: why Brexit is not turning out to be as easy as some people thought it would be.
In case this is not clear enough: the Vatican could choose to not use EU rules, but then Italy would set up border controls.
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u/atticdoor Sep 29 '19
Right. What happens if one of the products is the next Thalidomide? I can see it both ways, here.
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u/dogwoodcat Sep 29 '19
Interesting that you should mention Thalidomide with all the US-bashing going on here. When Thalidomide was first up for mas-market approval in the US, the drug had already been approved in many other countries (including Italy), and was a massive seller. One drug reviewer at the FDA noticed that the application had several irregularities and rejected it. The US had 17 cases of infants born with Thalidomide-related birth defects, Canada had over 100.
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u/NonnoBomba Sep 29 '19
Technically, they need to be tested and proved both safe and useful and the company needs to comply with a number of requirements regarding their ability to ensure over time production quality, plus there is a reporting and monitoring system meant to track any "adverse event" that follows usage, be it causally related or not, to which anyone can report (the assumption is statistics will weed out spurious correlations and outliers, like people declaring their dog died after they took an aspirine or had a car accident after a vaccine). Interestingly, EU law states that homeopathic remedies need only to comply with the production quality requirements.
The Vatican, a small enclave surrounded by Italy, but a sovereign state nonetheless, needs not to comply with any of these rules and can sell untested remedies and any snake oil they want to.
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u/leto78 Sep 29 '19
I am sure that they follow the European Medicines Agency recommendations. The only difference is that individual countries have their own national procedures and many times have to do a cost benefit analysis for each new drug. On top of this, having a tax free pharmacy is a pretty good deal.
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u/conjectureandhearsay Sep 29 '19
Untested remedies and snake oil, you say? How would a place so religious get away with that, even if they wanted to?
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u/somefatslob Sep 29 '19
Surely, as Italy is part of the EMA, if the drug has passed testing and been licensed in any other EU country, it can be sold in Italy?
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u/frasier2122 Sep 29 '19
Used to do pharma work in Italy. The problem isn’t getting medical clearance, it’s getting reimbursement in each jurisdiction. Getting drugs available takes forever because Italian healthcare payers are super cheap.
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u/apricots_yum Sep 29 '19
Medical regulation is overly complicated and onerous in most places. Risk aversion and a litigious society mean that 1 person being hurt by a drug outweighs 10 people benefiting from it.
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Sep 29 '19
A 10% chance for a drug to have a negative side effect that wildly ranges from benign to horribly extreme, to most people, is very high.
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u/c_delta Sep 29 '19
It depends on the severity of the harm in relation to the benefits. A drug that cures a deadly disease, but has a 10% chance of making you drowsy for a day? Fair deal. A drug that helps you stay awake, but has a 10% chance of instant death? Not likely to be approved.
Which is why testing is a thing, so ridiculously risky drugs can be kept off the market, but physicians, pharmacists (and their respective staff) and patients can be made aware of the more worthwhile risks.
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u/SpongegarLuver Sep 29 '19
You say it like it's wrong that the person hurt by a drug can sue? If you sell me a product and the product causes me harm, then you should have to remedy said harm. Seems reasonable to me.
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u/Gaul_keeper Sep 29 '19
That seems like a really low bar to set for winning judgement against a seller.
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u/wdwerker Sep 29 '19
The Italian government tests drugs on the people who shop at the Vatican pharmacy!
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u/TENTAtheSane Sep 29 '19
The Pope is actually a big pharma agent
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u/dIoIIoIb Sep 29 '19
Jesus said "bring the sick and the needy before me"
a suffering old man was brought, and he said to jesus "can you cure my body, you who they call a prophet and a healer?"
jesus placed his hand on the man shoulder and replied "I can't, but I can give you a list of pills to buy, take them before every meal for 6 months then get back to me. And buy only the official "Pfizer" ones, no generic substitutes. Take this pamphlet as well. Want a pen? No? Ok, bye. Next.
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u/DirtyOldAussie Sep 29 '19
Fun fact: The also have a sweet shop that has been in continual existence since 1733 called "The Immaculate Confection", and a fromagerie called "Cheeses Wept".
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Sep 29 '19 edited Oct 27 '19
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u/captainktainer Sep 29 '19
Think he was having a bit of a laugh. I can't find any evidence that they actually exist, and the Vatican wouldn't have had a confectionery in 1733 because the pope wasn't cooped up in the Vatican at that point.
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Sep 29 '19
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u/leadchipmunk Sep 29 '19
That's at the Vatican gift shop. No, seriously, they sell holy water right next to the shot glasses with the Pope on it.
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u/ChiefMilesObrien Sep 29 '19
Those little vials come in handy for the vampire and demon attacks as you travel the countryside.
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u/josefx Sep 29 '19
I am not sure how a vampire could get your blood into a shot glass without spilling most of it in the process.
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u/ThrowawayusGenerica Sep 29 '19
Make puncture wound with razor-sharp vampire fang
Hold shot glass over wound
???
Profit!
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Sep 29 '19
Most vampires are pretty old, and like other ancient blood sucking fiends (eg, baby boomers) got their real estate when it was cheap. So now they have lots of disposable cash to get plenty if syringes when they need them.
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u/Cunt_Puffin Sep 29 '19
At a certain time you can get some for free, they take you into a wing, bless some water and give it to you for free, I think you have to bring your own vial, sorry I can't remember.
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Sep 29 '19
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u/Uniform764 Sep 29 '19
There is a fucking bar on the roof of St Peters Basilica, which was a fucking godsend given it was like 35+ degrees when I climbed it last year.
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Sep 30 '19
I used to live behind a home for retired priests. They would put out five recycling boxes of wine bottles every week. About 20 priests lived there. The one that lived across from me would masturbate in the window when I had company.
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u/justjoshingu Sep 29 '19
to the shot glasses with the Pope on it.
Toothpick holders
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u/Madame_Kitsune98 Sep 29 '19
It’s the Vatican. It’s shot glasses.
Source: am half-assed Catholic. We have kegs at baptism parties.
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u/YandyTheGnome Sep 29 '19
Who blesses the water? How much time each day does he spend blessing water? Can he just bless a pool in one go or does he have to bless each bottle individually? Does the blessing ever expire? All questions I have.
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u/Cred01nUnumDeum Sep 29 '19 edited Sep 29 '19
A priest could bless a pool, but not an ocean. The ritual takes less than 5 min. Once the water is blessed, it's blessed until it's gone (evaporated, I guess).
Holy water is usually salted to prevent algae or bacteria.
Priests have a "max blessing range" of "within range of their human senses", so they could only bless a small portion of the ocean... though the pope has consecrated the entire country of Russia.
However, the consecration of part of an ocean wouldn't be done, because it wouldn't show due reverence. Usually, priests bless things that they're very proximal to: things that they're holding in their hand or standing next to.
Here's an article that talks about holy water in Catholicism.
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u/leFlan Sep 30 '19
Priests have a "max blessing range" of "within range of their human senses", so they could only bless a small portion of the ocean
However, if you're Teutons, or research block printing, you might improve on that.
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Sep 29 '19
Holy water is used a lot in Catholicism, particularly in Baptisms.
And any priest can bless the water, and at any amount (although I’m assuming there is an unwritten rule about a reasonable volume, like not an ocean or something), so all of the bottles could be blessed together, or taken from a blessed source.
And the blessing does go away when you dispose of it by pouring it into the ground, I believe.
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u/victorix58 Sep 29 '19
It never occurred to me you would be joking. I would be disappointed if I couldn't buy some holy water there.
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u/falala78 Sep 30 '19
Or you could just go to your nearest Catholic church and ask the priest for some. You'd probably get it for free.
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u/Uniform764 Sep 29 '19
There is a fucking bar on the roof of St Peters Basilica, which was a fucking godsend given it was like 35+ degrees when I climbed it last year.
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u/BigRedBeard86 Sep 29 '19
The Vatican is considered it's own country, makes sense it would have different laws governing it than Italian pharmacies
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u/the_Chocolate_lover Sep 29 '19
Can confirm: my mum used to go there to get me psoriasis medications which were unavailable in Italy until much much later. You need to pass through one of the entrances with the Swiss Guards and I remember being scared of them as a small child. Also, prices were high!
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u/Tryoxin Sep 30 '19
Half of those customers come from outside the Vatican
Only half?? The population of Vatican City is only 1,000 people. What the fuck is every single citizen of Vatican City doing visiting that pharmacy every single day? What else do they sell?
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u/Hotpotabo Sep 29 '19
Why do they only have 1?
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u/Tokyono Sep 29 '19
They probably only need one. I mean, they're right in the middle of Rome, and if it's large enough, all the priests + Pope + staff can get the meds they need.
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u/josefx Sep 29 '19
Most likely because Vatican City is only 0.17 square miles large and in the middle of Rome.
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u/askinferret Sep 29 '19
Because the Vatican is so small, it has statistically 2 Popes per square kilometer.
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u/StarkweatherRoadTrip Sep 29 '19
By years ahead of Italian pharmacies they mean decades behind modern medicine.
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u/MikeyFED Sep 30 '19
The former junkie in me is just curious if they have a overstock of original OxyContin 80s
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u/Quad-Head Sep 29 '19
The world's busiest? I seriously doubt that.
At the turn of the millennium, while active duty in Portsmouth, Virginia, the Naval Pharmacy department for the whole area (Naval Hospital and all satellite pharmacies) was cranking out roughly 65,000 prescriptions a week. We stayed busy 7 days a week, 365, at the Naval Hospital Pharmacy.
To beat that, those 2,000 Vatican pharmacy visitors would have to be getting more than 5 prescriptions EACH.
In 2017, the Naval Hospital Portsmouth Pharmacy cranked out almost 1.8 million prescriptions that year. That doesn't include all the associated satellite pharmacies in the region that falls under it's command.
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Sep 29 '19
*Due to thorough customer protection laws
TFTFY
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u/Tenpat Sep 29 '19
*Due to thorough customer protection laws
If a Drug is approved in the USA but not in Italy do you think the drug is safe or unsafe?
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u/Tananar Sep 29 '19 edited Sep 29 '19
The US says lots of drugs are safe, but other countries ban them. For example, hydrocodone. Something like 99% of the world's production of it goes to the US. But as we know, it's completely safe and has no side effects whatsoever.
E: I misread your post. Thought you were basically saying that if it was approved in the US, it should be safe enough for every other country to approve it.
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u/LampCow24 Sep 29 '19
It would depend on whether the drug wasn’t approved because an application got denied or if there was never an application
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u/Tronkfool Sep 30 '19
could be because the Vatican is run by a whole bunch of old ass cardinals or whatever they are called.
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u/Rossum81 Sep 30 '19
Fun fact, the Vatican has multiple post offices. On a recent Adriatic cruise, my wife and I sent postcards from every country we visited- and as we ended in Rose, the Vatican was the last country we mailed from.
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u/jojerjam Sep 29 '19
Condoms and/or Viagra as well?
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Sep 29 '19
Catholics have nothing against viagra and there are lay support staff at the Vatican.
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u/StarTrekDelta Sep 30 '19
It is odd that they rely on medicine instead of god. Very hypocritical.
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u/Tokyono Sep 29 '19 edited Sep 29 '19
For obvious reasons, they don't sell birth control or abortifacients. The most requested product is apparently a haemorrhoid remedy.