Rosado, H;
Bates, I;
(2016)
An overview of current pharmacy impact on immunisation: A global report.
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP): The Hague, Netherlands.
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Abstract
The role of pharmacists in immunisation and vaccination varies across the world; in some countries pharmacists are primarily involved in ensuring the safe supply and dispensing of vaccines, as well as advocating for immunisation, while in other countries they are empowered to play a more active role, as they are legally authorised to administer vaccinations, manage patients’ vaccination schedules and/or organise vaccinations activities and campaigns. It is estimated that ten million lives per year could be saved by increasing access to medicines and vaccinations. Community pharmacists are therefore in a strong position to provide a major contribution to public health due to their accessibility, distribution and available medicines expertise. Pharmacists are also highly trusted healthcare professionals and can therefore significantly improve communication channels and provide public reassurance on product quality. We conducted a survey, disseminated to 137 FIP member organisations, to gather a better understanding of the current role of pharmacists in immunisation across the world and the impact of these activities. We also provide here a closer look at the immunisation activities undertaken in eleven different countries and territories presented as case studies. Vaccination policies vary across the world; the legal authority to perform immunisation activities currently varies significantly across countries and the integration of community pharmacies and pharmacists in national vaccination policies tends to develop as a gradual process over time. Strategic and integrated partnerships between healthcare professionals are increasingly common and the role of pharmacists as educators, facilitators and immunisers is becoming more readily recognised. Several countries authorise vaccination in pharmacies and/or by pharmacists (for example in Argentina, Australia, Philippines, South Africa, UK and USA); this practice has been initiated, in the majority of the cases, with pharmacy-based vaccinations against influenza and then expanded to include other vaccines from the immunisation schedule. In most cases, it is associated with specific requirements such as pharmacist training, management of vaccination records and specifications on premises, equipment and waste management. Based on the sample of countries presented in this report, 940 million people live in countries where over 193,000 community-pharmacies can potentially offer access to vaccination services. In this sample alone, we further estimate that currently, pharmacist-administered vaccination services have the potential to reach a total global population of 655 million. These estimates are based on our sample of 45 countries and territories; the potential in health gain to have pharmacy-led outreach to global populations is clear and this report suggests that community-based pharmacies are safe and high quality vaccination centres. Providing direct administration of vaccines, using pharmacists and pharmacies, is a highly effective public health strategy for health systems and healthcare planners, complementing the existing service offerings for immunisation. Pharmacists are trusted healthcare professionals and as such can offer strong advocacy for building societal trust in vaccines as essential medicines. Added to this is the pharmacy-based opportunity for promoting immunisation in communities linked with the easy access to vaccination that community pharmacies bring and the outreach opportunities for healthcare planners. On the technical side, and highly significant, is the medicines expertise embedded in the vaccination supply chain and storage of cold-chain products; the safety and quality assurance that society demands of vaccines also has significant input from pharmacists. Pharmacists offer convenience, product safety, advocacy support and an overall highly impactful contribution to the public health challenges of immunisation and vaccination policies. The continuing trend to authorise pharmacists to provide direct access to immunisation allows policy makers to ensure additional resilience for national public health systems. Unexpected outbreaks of preventable communicable disease (from influenza to events such as H1N1) will happen again, somewhere, at some time, and pharmacists should be considered as invaluable contributors, together with our healthcare professional colleagues, in the delivery, access and administration of vaccines also during emergencies.
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