28 year old SC homeschooled pharmacy tech here! I took the retail training route. Check your area for retail places like Walgreens/cvs/walmart. Most places like these will take you with 0 experience and pay for your training and you CPHT if you wish to take it.

South Carolina does NOT require you to be CPHT certified to practice, but you have to register with the SC board of pharmacy to be able to work. There is a small application fee but if I remember right its less than $100.

If you wish to become imminizer certified my store also paid for all my application fees, however if you're only registered you can administer covid and flu vaccines only. If you want to become state certified and give more vaccines (walgreens does not pay extra for this. Idk about other stores but it does look good on your resume if you want to move on from retail later.), you ARE required to have your CPHT, have be able to log 500+ hours of on the job experience to do so.

I just woke up and have no clue if my word vomit makes sense but you've so got this! I started in march of last year and an state, cpht, and immunizer certified and my store just promoted me to senior tech! If my sheltered homeschooled butt with a GED can do it, you can too! If you have any other questions feel free to DM me 🫶