COVID-19: Drugstore and Disease in Contemporary Times

For almost two years now, the druggist has been giving his advice from behind a sneeze guard. Although the COVID pandemic is no longer (ubiquitously) among us at the time of writing, the screen and the “Leiden- themed masks” immediately evoke memories of it (fig. 1). “The first months of the COVID pandemic were hectic.” according to the druggist. “If someone recommended a drug on [the talk show] Jinek, our drugstore would be packed the next day.”

The drugstore sells medicinal and homeopathic products against diseases and discomforts just as it did at the beginning of the twentieth century. Where the previous generation of druggists promoted their products through newspapers, social media and television are now the way to reach their audience. Drogisterij Boerhaave, for instance, placed an advertisement on Facebook about the use of 'nano-silver' – although they did state that, by order of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), it is 'prohibited to promote nano-silver as a medicinal product or as food' (fig. 2).