Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacy ups vax access

THERE is growing evidence that using pharmacists to manage vaccination programs improves coverage in target groups that other health care professionals find hard to access, according to an address at the Sixty Seventh World Health Assembly. Presenting on behalf of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), Zuzana Kusynová said that the organisation welcomed the global strategy to ensure the eradication of vaccinepreventable diseases and to reduce mortality and morbidity from them. “In the joint ‘WHO-FIP Guidelines on Good Pharmacy Practice’, FIP and the World Health Organisation (WHO) emphasised that pharmacists should be used to their full potential in educating about safety and relevance of immunisation, and facilitating or providing vaccination. “Not only [do] vaccines need to be safe and available, but they must be acceptable and administered to patients.” She cited successful vaccination campaigns in Irish pharmacies which specifically targeted patients who were “at risk” (81%), patients with a chronic illness and difficult to reach patients, with 28% having never received a flu vaccine before. FIP took part in the Workshop on Enhancing Communication around Influenza Vaccination (WEECIV) CDC, jointly organised by the World Health Organisation and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in June. “Pharmacists’ contribution in communication strategies was highlighted as a way to address the challenges of vaccination hesitancy and resistance,” Kusynová said. In Australia, the Queensland Pharmacist Immunisation Pilot is well under way with 10,000 influenza vaccinations expected to be administered by pharmacists by the end of May and a report expected in October (PD 21 May). To access Kusynová’s full speech at the Assembly, CLICK HERE.

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