The Role of Pharmacies in Immunization Programs and Health Promotion

The involvement of pharmacists and pharmacies in the vaccination campaign represents an important opportunity to confirm the professional role played and the function of a local health unit. The pharmacy is one of the points of contact and interaction most frequented by the population; it is widespread throughout the national territory, and thanks to its professionals, it plays and can play, even more, an essential role in the networks for the prevention and protection of the health of our communities. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the necessity for close collaboration and integration between health professionals to ensure an influential response. The pandemic also made it clear how prevention is an essential component of our health and social systems and how this must find, alongside a precise and stronger organizational dimension, also a concrete and operational declination in the various aspects of our daily life and certainly in the moments contact with the various health services. In this work, through an analysis of the scientific literature, we aim to identify and describe the advantages that can derive from the involvement of community pharmacists in prevention networks.

1.        Dubé E, Vivion M, MacDonald NE. Vaccine hesitancy, vaccine refusal, and the anti-vaccine movement: influence, impact, and implications. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2015;14(1):99-117. doi:10.1586/14760584.2015.964212

2.        Napolitano F, D’Alessandro A, Angelillo IF. Investigating Italian parents’ vaccine hesitancy: a cross-sectional survey. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2018;14(7):1558-65. doi:10.1080/ 21645515.2018.1463943

3.        Rosselli R, Martini M, Bragazzi NL. The old and the new: Vaccine hesitancy in the era of the Web 2.0. Challenges and opportunities. J Prev Med Hyg. 2016;57(1):E47-E50.

4.        Thomson A, Robinson K, Vallée-Tourangeau G. The 5As: A practical taxonomy for the determinants of vaccine uptake. Vaccine. 2016;34(8):1018-24.

5.        MacDonald NE. SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy: Definition, scope, and determinants. Vaccine. 2015;33(34):4161-4.

6.        Burson RC, Buttenheim AM, Armstrong A, Feemster KA. Community pharmacies as sites of adult vaccination: A systematic review. Hum Vaccine Immunother. 2016;12:3146-59.

7.        della Salute M. Piano Nazionale Prevenzione Vaccinale 2017–2019. 2017.

8.        Ecarnot F, Crepaldi G, Juvin P, Grabenstein J, Del Giudice G, Tan L, et al. Pharmacy-based interventions to increase vaccine uptake: report of a multidisciplinary stakeholders meeting. BMC Public Health. 2019;19(1):1698. doi:10.1186/s12889-019-8044-y

9.        Singhal PK, Zhang D. Costs of adult vaccination in medical settings and pharmacies: an observational study. J Manag Care Spec Pharm. 2014;20(9):930-6. doi:10.18553/jmcp.2014.20.9.930

10.      Ciliberti R, Bragazzi NL, Bonsignore A. The Implementation of the Professional Role of the Community Pharmacist in the Immunization Practices in Italy to Counteract Vaccine Hesitancy. Pharmacy (Basel). 2020;8(3):155. doi:10.3390/pharmacy8030155

11.      Trotta K. The Role of Pharmacists as Immunizers in North Carolina. N C Med J. 2017;78(3):206-7. doi:10.18043/ncm.78.3.206

12.      Boboia A, Turcu-Stiolica A, Groza MR, Stoica CI, Florea A, Revnic C, et al. The role of the pharmacists and the pharmaceutical companies in the ecosystem of the public health campaigns - a case study in information campaigns on diabetes mellitus. Acta Pol Pharm. 2020;77:951-62. doi:10.32383/appdr/130067

13.      International Pharmaceutical Federation’s latest report on pharmacy’s impact on immunization coverage. An Overview of Pharmacy’s Impact On immunization Coverage. Available from: https://www.fip.org/file/4751.

14.      Jordan D, Guiu-Segura JM, Sousa-Pinto G, Wang LN. How COVID-19 has impacted the role of pharmacists around the world. Farm Hosp. 2021;45(2):89-95.

15.      Cadogan CA, Hughes CM. On the frontline against COVID-19: community pharmacists’ contribution during a public health crisis. Res Soc Adm Pharm March. 2020;17(1):2032-5. doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2020. 03.015

16.      Bragazzi NL. Pharmacists as Immunizers: The Role of Pharmacies in Promoting Immunization Campaigns and Counteracting Vaccine Hesitancy. Pharmacy (Basel). 2019;7(4):166. doi:10.3390/pharmacy7040166

17.      Thomas RE, Lorenzetti DL. Interventions to increase influenza vaccination rates of those 60 years and older in the community. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;5:CD005188.

18.      Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Recommendations regarding interventions to improve vaccination coverage in children, adolescents, and adults. Am J Prev Med. 2000;1(18):92-6. doi:10.1016/S0749- 3797(99)00121-X

19.      Huot C, Sauvageau C, Tremblay G, Dubé E, Ouakki M. Adult immunization services: steps have to be done. Vaccine. 2010;28(5):1177-80. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2009.11.038

20.      Isenor JE, Bowles SK. Evidence for pharmacist vaccination. Can Pharm J. (Ott). 2018;151(5):301-4.

21.      Klassing HM, Ruisinger JF, Prohaska ES, Melton BL. Evaluation of Pharmacist-Initiated Interventions on Vaccination Rates in Patients with Asthma or COPD. J Community Health. 2018;43(2):297-303.

22.      Abraham O, Brothers A, Alexander DS, Carpenter DM. Pediatric medication use experiences and patient counseling in community pharmacies: Perspectives of children and parents. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2017;57(1):38-46.

23.      Wong CA, Taylor JA, Wright JA, Opel DJ, Katzenellenbogen RA. Missed opportunities for adolescent vaccination, 2006–2011. J Adolesc Health. 2013;53(4):492-7.

24.      Pantaleo L, Prestileo T, Milesi M, Marrone P, Lampasona M, Pittore D, et al. The role of the clinical pharmacist in the management of antiretroviral therapy. 2020:196-206.

25.      Murray E, Bieniek K, Del Aguila M, Egodage S, Litzinger S, Mazouz A, et al. Impact of pharmacy intervention on influenza vaccination acceptance: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Int J Clin Pharm. 2021;43(5):1163-72. doi:10.1007/s11096-021-01250-1